In the Closet

Author's Note: Hey, everybody! Thanks for your reviews. I'm trying to update as quickly as I can right now before my summer school classes start. I'm hoping things didn't get too mushy in this chapter—I still want to keep everybody in character, so let me know if I managed that.

Does anyone have access to A Wizard Abroad? I'm going back to college this weekend (where my copy is), but I'd like to get the update up before Sunday and I need some info for continuity purposes. I'm not going to post what information I need on here so I don't give too much away, but if you're online Friday, June 1st, and are interested in helping me get the information, message or review and I'll send you what I need. Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: The characters in question belong to Diane Duane. I own only the plot.

Chapter 2: Talking on the Lawn

Tom and Carl looked at Nita and Kit for a minute, trying to gauge their state of mind. After a moment, Carl broke the silence. "You're bored?"

"The Senior Wizards generally agreed that the older wizards ought to attempt to pick up any slack for a little while as you younger wizards recovered."

"And we understand and appreciate that. Really, we do," Kit said, scratching Monty behind his ear.

"But we're ready to get back out there, to feel useful again. To go back to slowing down the death of the Universe. That's what we signed up for."

Tom scratched his head. "You know we don't really have much impact as far assignments go. If you're the answer to a problem in the Universe, you'll be given that problem—regardless."

Nita sighed. "It's just frustrating. We want to get back out there again. We're sick of sitting on our heels for the last month. We're ready. If you could just possibly let some of the higher ups know that the younger wizards are getting restless?"

Carl shook his head. "You know it doesn't work like that."

"However, we can suggest some independent research ideas to you if any come our way," offered Tom.

"My independent research was Ponch," pointed out Kit.

"I haven't been that interested in the lucid dreaming lately. It's not really there right now." She wasn't that interested in what her subconscious might tell her, and precognition and the like weren't so happy.

Carl took a swig of his Coke. "I'm trying to think of something that might serve as a good project for both of you. You want to work together, right?"

"Definitely" and "Of course" were uttered simultaneously. Kit and Nita glanced at each other. They had both responded without even thinking to consider.

Kit looked slightly embarrassed. "We've worked together since our Ordeal. Yeah, we've done a couple of individual assignments here and there but—"

"Generally speaking, we work better as a unit." Nita knew that if she was going in on a dangerous wizardry there was no other wizard she'd rather have at her back. Kit was there for her and she knew he always would be, just like she was always there for him. They could anticipate each other's moves before they happened and they were both willing to make whatever sacrifices they needed to…for each other, or the universe. They'd both lost a lot, but they'd both come through it so far.

"Neets and I trust each other with our lives. There's nobody else either of us would rather work with." Kit felt that just about summed it up. Oh, granted, they trusted other wizards too. Dairine could be trusted, and Roshaun. Of course Tom and Carl. And there were others. Darryl for one. Ronan too, come to think of it. He was just glad that things were settled between the two of them now. No struggles. No jealousy. No miscommunications. That had all been worked out of a month ago. He fully admitted to both himself and Ronan he was jealous. Jealous that Ronan had briefly stolen away his best friend—of course it was nothing more than that. Ronan had openly admitted that he had liked Nita, and yes, they'd kissed. But aside from the 3,000 miles wide ocean between them, there were other reasons it wouldn't work out. Ronan didn't elaborate on these reasons except to say that for all Nita's blushing, awkwardness, and flirting she hadn't quite felt the same way about him as he had about her. Any feelings that had been there were done and dealt with. That skirt thing earlier today was just his raging hormones acting up. He'd have to get them in check. He was a teenage boy after all. It was natural. It was perfectly natural for him to notice that his female best friend had developed quite a nice body. A little voice in the back of his head, his own voice, disagreed. No, it's not just that. And if you want to go on lying to yourself…don't expect it not to interfere with you wizardry. There was a pause. And Ronan knows the truth too, even if you didn't say it. That's probably the real reason he backed off. He knew—

"Kit. Kit!" Nita tapped him on the shoulder rather more forcibly than necessary.

"Huh?"

Tom chuckled. "I don't know where you went off to just now but you haven't said anything for about five minutes."

He fought down a blush. "Sorry about that. Distracted for a minute."

Carl motioned for him to take a sip of his soda to help wake up a little. "It's perfectly alright. Do you have any ideas about what you'd like to research?"

"I was thinking we might do something on the moon's slight gravitational change and its effects on the tide? Nothing negative so far, but it could end up that way and it'd be good to know what's causing it."

"Or what about wizards and their pets?" asked Kit.

"Either one would be good. Just try to be careful, whatever you choose."

"And we'll let you know if we hear of anything interesting. You might want to see what some of your other wizard friends are up to and see if they've got any projects they could use help on," Carl suggested. "Isn't Dairine in the middle of something with Roshaun?"

Nita made a face. It wasn't that she'd didn't love her sister, she just didn't want to work with her. Working off-planet however sounded like it'd be great. Maybe she could pick up Dari's work on Jupiter's moon. The single-celled organisms still needed monitoring from time to time. "They weren't real interested in outside help. We offered."

"Darryl may have something, or Ronan."

"Or any number of the other wizards your age you met while fighting the Pullulus. Just keep an open mind."

Kit stood up. They didn't need any outsiders. "Thanks. We'll remember. Ready, Nita?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks for the sodas. We'll let you know when we figure something out."

Tom and Carl walked them to the door.

"Stop by anytime."

They didn't talk as they walked back towards their homes. When they got to the place where they'd separate to go to their respective houses, Kit asked, "We're still going to the shelter tomorrow after school, right?"

"Yeah. I'll meet you at the gate after last period?"

"Sure thing."

Nita jogged up to the house just as her dad pulled in the driveway. "You're home early."

Mr. Callahan laughed. "What? No hello? I closed up shop a little early today is all. It was a good morning, but a slow afternoon. Business will pick up in the next month or so with proms and things, so I thought I ought to enjoy an early night while I could. Dairine home?"

Nita shrugged and opened the front door. "She was when I left. She and Roshaun were arguing over the spell they're working on."

"So what else is new? They'll stop sooner or later. I think I'll make roast chicken tonight. Are you done with your homework yet?"

"Not yet. Kit and I went to see Tom and Carl for a while. I'll get it done." Nita stuck her head around the corner into the kitchen. Neither Dairine nor Roshaun was in sight. She walked over to the table and started glancing at the notes they'd left there. They seemed to be on the right track, but something seemed off-balance. Numerically the spell looked alright at a glance, but something about the spell's complexity struck her as strange. Before she could figure out exactly what it was, there was a grunt behind her.

"What are you doing?"

Nita looked up and, as expected, her sister was standing in front of her. Surprisingly enough, Roshaun wasn't. "Just looking at your notes. Are you guys stuck?"

"No. Just have to wait for him to realize that I'm right."

She snorted. It was of course perfectly in character for Dairine to have fallen for somebody just as stubborn as she was.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Nita shook her head. "Nothing." She handed her sister's notes to her. "Where'd Roshaun go?"

Dairine shrugged nonchalantly as if she didn't care where he was. "Backyard, I think. Said something about wanting to see the sun." And getting away from me. She was tempted to ask Nita for some advice, but didn't think it would do any good. Not to mention, she wasn't that desperate yet. She could figure things out on her own.

"Well, I've got to go get some work done. Dad should be in here in a few minutes to start dinner. I think he went to change his clothes."

"He's home already?"

Nita nodded and went to get herself a glass of water. "Yeah. Took off early today."

Dairine sat down at the table and spread her notes out again. Frowning at them, she rested her chin on her arms. "I wonder if he was coming to check up on Roshaun and me."

Nita quirked an eyebrow at her younger sister. "You don't need checking up on, do you?"

Dari made a face. "No!"

"Alright. I'm going to get some work done. See you later." Nita left Dairine to ponder about both her spell notes and her boyfriend. Maybe she'd go back to cleaning her room. She didn't feel like homework yet.

Dairine stared glumly at the paper. There was no disagreement about there being a problem, or about what the problem was. The only disagreement was about how best to fix it. Dairine thought Roshaun was going about it entirely the wrong way. Going through Wellakh's temperamental sun was not the best way to fix the drought. They needed to go inside the planet to affect the outside; however it would be easier to get to the sun than to where they'd need to be in the planet.

Mr. Callahan came in, fairly happy, and took a whole chicken out of the fridge and began to pre-heat the oven. "How was your day, Dairine?"

"This spell is giving us some trouble, but we'll get it." She rubbed her temples.

He searched through the spice rack for something to put on the chicken. "What about school? You do have a life on this planet too. Even wizards have to make livings."

"Oh. School was fine. Turned my work in and all that." She had done all her work, but her head really hadn't been present at school today. Instead of taking notes, she was scrawling characters in the Speech, trying to sort out the spell. Once they'd fixed the drought on Wellakh—which really needed to happen soon—then she and Roshaun could go about reforming the government. They had already talked a little with his parents, but no announcements had been made yet.

"Where's Roshaun?"

"Outside. He'll be in soon. He wanted some fresh air. Actually, I think I'll go see if he wants to come back in." Dairine collected her notes into a clean stack and left them on the chair, going outside to see if she could talk some sense into the Sun-King. She had long ago realized that bullying was no use against this boy.

Roshaun stood in the middle of the yard. The sun shone down on him. His eyes were closed. Dairine found herself oddly transfixed, watching the light and the breeze catch his hair. Even in his floppy t-shirt and baggy pants, he still had the same bearing she was used to seeing him hold himself with. Still a vain, arrogant, stubborn, beautiful, and caring individual. She didn't say anything; she stood there, looking at him, trying to decide what exactly she wanted to say, and not saying.

"Dhairine. I know you're there. I can feel you."

She shook her head, trying to get out of what must have been a teen hormone induced daze. "How?"

"Like a storm. You usually feel like an approaching storm." He opened his eyes and looked at her, fighting a smile that was beginning to twitch at the corner of his face. He knew that in the past month he was smiling more than he had in years. He was beginning to feel hopeful about…everything. Or most things. He would not have to bear kingship alone; they would reform Wellakh's entire governmental structure. His people's attitude as a whole seemed to be improving, though the growing water shortage was testing tempers. Furthermore, he and Dhairine were making progress on the water problem. Slow progress; she refused to admit that his way of doing things would work better than the disaster she was attempting to peddle. Still, things were going well. And he had her. He was no longer working alone; no longer felt so alone, and that was probably the greatest reason to smile of all. Even so, "storm" was most certainly an accurate description of her most of time, but right now, that storm seemed to be abating and the only thing left was his Dhairine.

She started walking towards him again. "Roshaun, we've both had a little time to cool off. We have to get back to work on that spell."

He nodded, looking serious, and then he bent his head down and kissed her, using his arms to pull her closer to him. For her part there were no objections. Because it was Roshaun, she let her guards down. Once he was kissing her, she let herself get pulled in by him, putting both arms around him and his floppy t-shirt. She kissed him back fiercely. Images flashed between the two of them. Lips tugged at one another and, something fairly new, tongues slid into one another's mouths. It was with regret on both parties that they pulled their mouths away from one another ten minutes later and Dairine laid her head against his chest. Roshaun's chin rested on her head. He saw an old chair off in the corner of the yard and, with his arms still around Dhairine, went to it and sat, pulling her onto his lap. She let herself be pulled, and allowed herself to settle sideways onto her lap, head leaning against him. She was content. She knew this didn't solve anything and a little part of her knew they were only putting off the problem to be solved and she was angry with him for putting it off this way, however, the majority of her was quite content to sit there unmoving for as long as possible. Here, in her backyard, they were alone. No one was watching them or concerned about anything. They could just be.

Dairine tilted her head up and gave him a single kiss on the neck. He leaned down to kiss her again. After a few minutes of some very enjoyable kissing, they did stop and she sat up more on his lap.

"My dad's making dinner now, and I think we really ought to get back to work on that spell. Your people are running out of time. It's not critical yet, but it'll take some time for whatever solution we pick to take effect once we've set up the spell."

"I know. Dhairine, we need to look things over from the beginning again. As it stands now, we're holding two opposing ideas and we both insist we're right. The way things look now, that won't change, and we need it to. We need to do something. I think we should take a break until after dinner and try and look at it again with fresh minds."

Dairine decided that sounded fair enough. There were plenty of things they could do in the meantime before dinner. "We have to find something that works. And we will. If anyone can, we can."

"Of course we will." They sat in silence for a few more minutes before he asked her to stand up and turn around and sit again so that most of her weight was on his other knee.

After she'd settled herself down comfortably again, she kissed him until they heard the sound of displaced air as someone appeared in the backyard via wizardry.

Roshaun and Dairine looked at their guest with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Their guest looked around. In an Irish accent, their guest asked, pretending to be offended, "What? I'm not allowed to visit?"

There was another pop of displaced air as a second individual arrived.