Epilogue

When Kelly's feet touched the sand, she wanted nothing more than to lie down on top of it and stay there. I've had enough of knights and magic and castles, she thought firmly, and nearly dying every second day. The sooner we leave this time, the sooner I'll be home and the happier I'll be. Home, where men don't challenge you to duels and battle to the death, where magic is just a fantasy and where castles are crumpling ruins that you take pictures off. The way things should be.

The Doctor wasn't ready to leave just yet, although he was keen for them to put distance between them and the castle. He prattled on about loose ends needing tying up. Kelly almost threw her hands into the air in frustration and walked off to find the blue box on her own. Her mission had been accomplished and her friend safe at last. She wanted to be home. Exhausted as she was, she didn't argue, she didn't vent her anger or express her annoyance. Instead she remained mute upon hearing the news and numbly followed as the Doctor led the way into the woods.

Ace tried to speak to her but soon gave up when she realised Kelly wasn't listening. At first she thought Kelly was angry with her. The Doctor overheard and explained the ordeal she had endured in order to break them out and how it was actually rather surprising she had any energy left at all.

"I could help with that," he offered.

Ace titled her head as Kelly nodded.

The look in his eyes told her that he knew there was something that she had not told them but he did not ask. A few moments later and she slipped into the haze and the ache of her muscles ceased.

"You'll want to see this," was the next thing she could remember. The cramps in her legs began to make themselves known once more but Ace grinned and took her hand, leading her down to the edge of a creek. She then pointed out at an island in the middle of a giant lake. "See that? That's actually a spaceship. And," she added with glee, "I got to blow it up. Bloody big boom, it was beautiful."

"Spaceship?" Kelly repeated. "In the Middle Ages?"

"Old technology," the Doctor chimed in. "Leftover from another time, another world maybe. Just like the sky ships Ancelyn knows. The ship's powered by this."

He reached into his pocket and drew Excalibur from it. Kelly didn't even bat an eyelid, having seen such a thing before. Ace's pockets were the same and both were like that box they travelled in; bigger on the inside. He pointed at the large red gemstone inserted into the pommel. It was a giant magi-stone.

Ancelyn had gawked at the sight of the legendary blade. The Doctor brushed off his questions with a command. "Ancelyn," he told the knight, "the King has need of warriors such as yourself. A great battle approaches."

"I shall be there to greet it," Ancelyn declared. He required no further prompting and immediately departed.

The Doctor waited until Ancelyn was well out of sight before leading Ace and Kelly through a cavern along the edge of the lake. Kelly blinked as it turned into a concrete tunnel in the shape of a giant pipe. At the end stood a bizarre distinctly fishy doorway which the Doctor tinkered with for a few minutes before declaring, "Open up, it's me!" The door opened as commanded.

Beyond the doorway was an impressive structure. It was not as spacious or breathtaking as the Doctor's ship but it looked beautiful in its own way. It was not homely but mystical. A sliver of light beamed down from a skylight. The walls glowed with an inner green light and curved outwards in a cylindrical shape. In the centre of the room and right where the light struck the floor, a pedestal rested with a slot carved into it. Unfamiliar symbols dotted the stone, one she recognised from the trinket.

At the Doctor's request, Kelly removed the guard's armour she had worn as a disguise in the castle and watched as he placed it piece by piece in front of the pedestal. Ace had initially looked puzzled before some kind of light bulb went off. Taking the boots, she raced off. Kelly didn't have the energy to run after her so sat on a step near the pedestal. Not quite sure what he was doing, she watched the Doctor retrieve a quill, a pot of ink and a piece of parchment from his pocket. He looked around for a flat surface before making use of the step beside her.

"Another message for yourself?" Kelly asked, trying to peer over her shoulder at what he was writing.

"Yes, a rather important one," he told her, dipping the nib of the quill into the pot. "An explanation, although…" He paused and gazed past her, lost in thought. "I don't think this will be the last time I'm here. I must return sometime before now…"

"So you could tell them to make the harness?" Kelly offered.

"That and more it would seem. That's twice I've heard of myself being trapped in these 'ice caves'…" he mused.

Ace returned with the boots filled with sand. "Don't forget the P.S at the end," she called out, noticing the parchment.

"What?" he asked as he paused.

"You know," Ace elaborated, "the bit where you tell us about Morgaine's plan with the nuclear warhead."

"Ahhh!" the Doctor exclaimed as if stung. "Yes! I'd almost forgotten about that."

"Nuclear warhead?!" Kelly repeated in alarm.

"We've got it covered," Ace reassured her in a matter of fact tone. "Been there and stopped that already. We just have to make sure to tell ourselves to go stop it, otherwise a paradox will happen or something."

That was rather a relaxed attitude to take about a potential nuclear fallout in Kelly's opinion.

The Doctor finished writing and rolled up the parchment. He lifted the helmet's visor and pushed the parchment inside as if delivering an envelope into a mailbox. Then he picked up Excalibur.

"I've set to the space-time coordinates to end up at the bottom of Lake Vortigan in our dimension a few thousand years before we get there," he told them. "All that's left to do is-"

"Plug it in?" Ace finished. The Doctor frowned at her interruption. She grinned cheekily.

"Yes. Seeing as you still have no sense of occasion," the Doctor muttered as he passed the sword to Ace, "you may as well put it back where you'll draw it from."

Kelly shook her head. Ace was also the one to draw the sword from the stone? Typical…

She blinked as Ace dumped the sword in her arms. "You do it."

"So I just... stick it in here?" she asked as she walked up to the pedestal.

"Yep."

Kelly frowned. "I'm going to get zapped or something, aren't I?"

"Not that I'm aware of," the Doctor replied unhelpfully.

Shrugging her shoulders, she grasped the sword by the hilt and gently slid the blade point first into the stone. As the blade made contact, the room lit up with lights and started humming with energy.

"And now we run," announced Ace, heading for the door in a beeline.

"Run?" repeated Kelly.

"Before the ship departs," answered Ace.

"Exactly," agreed the Doctor, poking his head in from out the door.

Kelly couldn't believe it. "That's why you made me plug it in," she shouted after their retreating figures. "So you could all get a head start bolting out the door!"

"Come on, Kit!"

"Unless you fancy a trip through dimensions and a few hundred years waiting before returning to the 21st Century," prompted the Doctor from out of sight.

"Or almost drowning," added Ace.

Neither were on her to-do list so she hurried after them, muttering curses the whole way.

Out of breath, she collapsed onto the forest floor a few metres away from the cave entrance. She sat up in a hurry when an almighty roar sounded. The sound died before the roar returned again, twice as loud this time. The third roar preceded the ship rising from the bottom of the lake. It was like a giant was emerging from under the lake. Water gushed down its side like waterfalls. The ship, measuring at least twenty metres wide by thirty long, hovered in mid air while the weight poured off it.

Kelly blinked as Ace pushed her jaw up with a finger. "I've seen bigger," Ace told her with a sly smile.

"So have I," Kelly breathed but Ace didn't hear her. This was not as big but at least it looks like a proper spaceship on the outside, not like the TARDIS or the giant floating rock of ship that had hovered over London.

She caught the Doctor and Ace waving at the ship in the corner of her eyes. Their grins were identical. They really are in their element, she thought. Just another day for them. They turned to talk to each other as the ship crossed the sky but Kelly watched it until it vanished from sight. They might have seen a million space ships just like this one but she hadn't. She wasn't likely to see one such as this again either so she savoured the sight of a speck of metal gleaming in the sunlight.

The trip back to the TARDIS was made to seem short as the trio shared their own account of what had happened since they last were together. Ace pestered and nagged for every detail. The Doctor had left the explaining to Kelly but offered bits and pieces of information every so often to tease Ace.

"I was not a damsel in distress," Ace repeated for the fifth time. "I wasn't just sitting there waiting to be rescued."

"No," Kelly was forced to agree, "that would have been the smart thing to do. Instead you did everything you could to drive your captors barmy."

The Doctor poorly disguised his laugh as a cough and Ace made a half-hearted swing at him.

"Still," Ace defended, "I think everything turned out alright, didn't they?"

Kelly pretended to consider it. "I guess so… considering I was only stabbed, you were captured and we almost fell to our deaths, I don't know."

"But hey, nobody tried to electrocute you this time."

Kelly gave her a pointed look. "Not for a lack of trying." To prove her point, she pulled her collar down to reveal the white symbol.

"This time?" repeated the Doctor as he regarded them with suspicion.

"Alright, nobody tried to poison you," Ace went on, ignoring the Doctor.

"Mmm," Kelly considered, also choosing to ignore the look, "but that soup of yours from the other night, that was pretty much as close to poison as you can get without being lethal." She hid her smile as the Doctor's eyes widened. "Nothing exploded though, this time. I'll admit that."

Ace thought about it and began to resemble a kicked puppy. "Yeah. No boom."

Naww, she really is disappointed, thought Kelly.

She didn't wallow in her misery for longer than a minute before piping up again. "Still, there's always next time."

"Mmm," replied Kelly non-committedly, knowing there would not be a next time.

"Attempted electrocution and poisoning..." the Doctor prompted.

Kelly clicked her tongue. "Boarding schools," she announced. "Very dangerous places."

Ace decided to play along. "You should have seen the things there. These... metal rods of doom-"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose.

"Curlers," interjected Kelly stoically.

"Rings of death-"

"Earrings," clarified Kelly, "or possibly curlers. She's not being very specific."

"Footwear of aching soles!" She was really getting creative with her descriptions.

"Heels?" guessed the Doctor and Kelly nodded with a smile.

"Probably stilettos."

"Poorly aimed catapults of human sized projectiles," Ace announced and then crossed her arms, waiting to see how Kelly would explain that.

Kelly's eyes narrowed. She paused, thought, opened her mouth twice then decided to take the safest option. "No, I'm afraid I haven't the faintest idea what that's supposed to be."

Ace made to punch the air in her victory.

"On second thoughts," added Kelly quickly as an idea occurred to her, "wasn't the miscalculation your fault."

The Doctor tutted. "Ace, I'm disappointed. Applied physics, you should have known better."

"Wha- Professor!"

He and Kelly laughed at her look of indignation.

Being on the last stretch of the time travelling journey and so close to returning to normality caused Kelly to feel more at ease than she had been since accidentally stumbling into Ace's world. Not facing death and danger constantly also had its impact. Even when travelling through the magnificent forests where nobody else could be seen or heard, the weight of uncertainty regarding Ace's fate had rested upon her. Now she was freed from that and she was content. Wandering through the same fields and forests as they had done on their first day here, the teasing and joking had recommenced. It was a welcome relief. It had to be how they coped.

This carefree travelling was fun but really it was only a moment's respite in their travels. Soon enough the teasing would end, the light-hearted attitudes would retreat and they would dance on the edge between safety and danger. This here was the bridge between verses. Their lives were fraught with adventure and danger. Ace strolled from one disaster zone to another, leaving change and smoke in her wake, unable to stay and plant roots or pick up the pieces. She never dared look back for fear of losing what little she carried with her; her memories of the people and places she had seen. And the Doctor, her one constant, would be right by her side. Ace would fight for him with her every breath and he would do the same in his own way; the two of them against the Universe's evils, wriggling and talking themselves into and out of the frying pan time and time again. Yes, the Doctor and the life he shared with her had burnt Ace. She was singed and bore scars. She had been broken and put back together again several times, but this is where she belongs, concluded Kelly. She lives and breathes this world.

And I do not.

"What will you do now?" the Doctor asked, sipping at a cup of tea freshly brewed in the TARDIS. Kelly glanced over her shoulder although Ace had stated extremely loudly that she was going to shower. She was grateful he had waited until Ace was out of earshot before asking. She did not want to draw out her departure by explaining herself to Ace.

"Have an hour-long soak in a hot tub of water and bubble bath while sipping copious amounts of coffee, I suppose."

He chuckled. "No, I meant after that. Back to MI7 and breaking and entering?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "It's what I'm good at. Why stop?"

It was a few years too late to leave her skills behind. Espionage and thievery was a way of life for her now. It was not going to change, nor was she willing to change it. They was part of her and denying that would leave her as... a fraction of who she was. She would not be Kelly Jones if she removed the urges to investigate, to uncover, to go where she shouldn't, to take what wasn't hers.

She didn't know what she would be.

"But is that what you want?" he asked, his blue eyes probing into hers.

She shook her head. Perhaps I haven't made myself clear enough, she thought. "I have no interest in joining you and her in your world. It's..." she trailed off. "I'm not meant to be in it."

He nodded. She wasn't sure if he really understood or was just being polite. "If you could do anything though, anything at all, no matter how ridiculous or outlandish, what would it be?" he prompted.

She answered in a heartbeat. "I'd protect those I care about. I'd keep them safe from everything I could."

"Any idea how to do that?" he asked, looking thoughtful.

It was a rather pointed question, as if he was trying to guide her down a particular route of thought. "You know of one?"

"No. It was rhetorical."

With that the vague outline of a path he was trying to lead her down disappeared. Yet, she was curious as to where it would have lead. What had he been thinking? Surely that was not possible. There was no way she could shield her friends and family from every single evil in this world and beyond. She could only do so much about the dangers she knew about. What hope did she have against those she did not?

Kelly frowned as an idea crept into her head. It had not been planted by the Doctor but she suspected its development had been stimulated by him. It had just poked through a canopy of other thoughts and made itself apparent for the first time. A week ago and she would have crushed it, buried it beneath denials and refusals. She still might, she hadn't decided yet. It however could be worth considering.

"Actually, now I think about it..." she began and felt herself start nodding. "There might be something else to think about."

With a smile, he crossed to the blue doors and opened one. Through it she spotted a red double-decker bus. Big Ben chimed nearby. With a touch of wariness, she slipped her arms through the straps of her backpack and peeked out the door. It was not quite dawn. A few people were jogging along the footpath wearing clothes that could belonged anywhere between the 1980's and the present.

"September second," the Doctor announced. "About three hours before breakfast, and nine hours after you left."

"The year?" she asked. Date and month were all well and good but what if it was 2006? Or worse, what if it was 2005?

"Two-thousand and..." he double checked his watch, "nine." He smiled encouragingly. "If it helps, I have a much better track record of arriving where and when I wish in this incarnation."

No, that doesn't help, thought Kelly, because I have no idea what you mean. Raising a finger to ask the Doctor to wait, she took one step out the door, retrieved her phone from her backpack and hit speed-dial 1. "Stupid question," she began, not allowing the other person to manage more than a hello, "but what year is it?"

"Blimey Kelly, how much have you been drinking?"

"Yeah, sorry, reprimand me later, Pol, and just remind me? Please?" she asked as nicely as she could.

She could almost see the Geek rolling her eyes as she sighed. "Two thousand and nine, second of September. It's a Wednesday and predicted to be a rather pleasant one unless you're one hung-over Kelly Jones or one super-hacking genius who gets called at three in the morning."

So it was 2009. Good. "Thanks Pol," she replied, trying not to sound cheerful.

"Mmmph," was the response as the Geek hung up.

The Doctor frowned slightly, having eavesdropped on the conversation. "I thought it was four..."

Kelly waved a hand. Close enough. "Here'll do." And I'm not about to get back in that box and let you take off and try getting it right because you might just muck it up even worse. Like landing in 1909 or 1609.

He doffed his hat at her. "Well, good luck to you, Miss Jones. It's been…" He rephrased. "Ace really appreciated your company and for that I'm glad."

Kelly nodded. "Look after her."

"I shall," he promised.

She exited the spaceship and crossed the small grassy area. Her eyes scanned her surroundings for clues of her exact location. If I followed that road towards that collection of shops, there'll surely be a bus stop-

"And, Kelly?"

She turned, a bit startled that he was still there and had not left already.

"What you said, about picking up the pieces..."

Silently she met his eyes.

"Thankyou... for doing what I couldn't."

After her nod of acknowledgement, the doors to the blue box closed. Kelly watched as a breeze picked up from around it and a familiar low wheeze echoed through the air. As the sound grew quieter, the box began to phase in and out, becoming more and more transparent as it disappeared.

Almost as soon as the sound died, Kelly's phone started vibrating. Taking one quick glance at the caller ID, she frowned before accepting the call.

"You're not drunk," declared a now-wide awake Geek. She could almost hear the Geek's mind ticking into gear as it booted up. "Your voice goes wispy when you've been drinking. Why the hell did you call me to ask what year it is?"

Kelly paused, unsure what to say. There was no need to say anything as the Geek was already pulling together pieces of information at a rapid speed that only a Geek could.

"Has it got something to do with Ace?"

Smiling and shaking her head to herself, Kelly hung up.

"I can't believe you did that."

Startled, Kelly slipped. Flailing her arms about to reclaim her balance, she spluttered and spat bubbles and water out of her mouth. Hoping she was having a sleep-deprived hallucination, she peeked through the bubbles and stared at the shadow of a figure standing by the bathroom door.

"I honestly can't believe it. You went and walked out without saying anything. Not a thing."

Oh God, I thought I had avoided having this conversation, she thought. She sank back underwater in the vain hope that when she surfaced again, the figure would be gone. Wiping suds from her eyes, she jumped slightly as the shadow had stepped into the bathroom now.

"What are you doing here?" Kelly coughed. "And why are you in my bathroom? In case you haven't noticed, I'm using it."

The figure raised their hands in despair. "I go and clean myself up and when I come back you've gone and left. Just like that; silently into the night. Do you have any idea how long it took for me to get here? It took three tries to land in the 21st Century. This is the fifth room of this building I've broken into."

How the heck did she find me? Kelly's eyes narrowed. "You didn't call Polly."

"Nobody else knew where you were! Not the twins, not Miss Barmy Lady. I even asked the greasy weasel."

Thanks, thanks a lot Pol. "Can I at least get a towel before continuing this conversation?" she asked.

With an exasperated sigh, Ace returned to the lounge room and shut the door behind her.

Hurriedly, Kelly slipped into her clothes and made for the window. Damn it, why are bathroom windows so small? They're impossible to use as an escape route. Before she could examine the ceiling as her next option, Ace barged in again.

"Why?" she demanded. "Why'd you just run off like that?"

This is why, thought Kelly. Have you forgotten how things turned out last time? I was not going to put us through all that again. Why do you have to be so pig-headedly stubborn? You could have just let me go but no, you chase me, hunt me down and force your way into my apartment and demand an explanation.

After a moment she saw past the anger and caught sight of the hurt in her friend's eyes.

She sighed. "Okay, I'll talk."

She walked past Ace to sit on the lounge and gestured for Ace to sit beside her. Ace crossed her arms and adamantly refused. "Oh good. I'm glad you've changed your mind."

Kelly winced but masked her emotions. "I didn't want to have to go through another goodbye."

"You decided that. It wasn't fair. What about what I wanted?"

"It wasn't fair," Kelly admitted, having discovered how Ace had responded to the decision, "and yes, maybe I was a bit selfish, but I didn't want to see you try to convince me to keep travelling. Your lifestyle, it's not for me. I can't. I just can't."

Ace shook her head in disbelief. "You don't like it? You don't want to see things, go places, meet people?"

No, thought Kelly, I don't mind travelling. It's your kind of travelling that I can't manage and it is overstepping where I'm welcome, trespassing where I don't belong. "It's not fair on you or your Professor," Kelly tried to explain. "We endured a few days without you and that was tough. Another day and we'd have been at each other's throats for sure."

"So?"

She doesn't see it, realised Kelly. She doesn't see the forest for all the trees. "We're too similar in some ways and so different in others that we clash like a truck accelerating into a brick wall."

"You could have said that."

"No. I know you too well. I know how much you hate goodbyes."

Ace avoided her eyes.

"Trying to avoid one didn't quite work out how I wanted," Kelly continued, "But if I had stayed long enough to say goodbye, what would you have done?"

"I'd have asked you to stay," Ace mumbled.

You are still asking... Kelly mentally sighed. But I won't and you're not going to tire of trying to convince me. I left without saying anything because I knew we'd have this argument if we didn't. You'll never convince me to say yes and I don't want to upset you enough to make you leave.

She knew exactly what to say to end this. I have to say it, she tried to convince herself. I don't want to but I must. I have no idea how she will respond. She might scream at me or fall silent, explode or fall apart.

She took a deep breath and asked the question.

"Because you want me to travel with you or because you're afraid of losing me?"

Ace flinched as though she had been slapped across the face. "It's... not like that…"

Lie. Kelly could see in her eyes it was like that. In her heart, she was glad asking the question had been enough. She didn't have to shatter the lie. "You and he make a good team and you're great at what you do. You don't need me there. But don't you see that I'm not gone? I'm still going to be here and you've just proved that you can, and will, find me. I don't have to be gone for good." She smiled. "You have a time machine. You can drop by next week and then visit me tomorrow afterwards. You can do that, right?"

Ace didn't look very convinced.

Kelly poked at her pride. "I thought you were telling me that you've been having lessons on how to fly that box of yours. Surely you can take a shot at this time and place whenever you want to. Now Polly knows you really are a time traveller, I'm sure she can point you my way when you drop by." She smiled, remembering the Geek's refusal to accept that Ace belonged to a different century. It had taken a lot of undeniable evidence to convince her otherwise.

"It's not the same, Kit," Ace whined.

"But it's better than thinking we'd never meet again and accepting that, isn't it?"

Ace nodded slowly.

"And when you do decide to visit, get Polly to give me a warning."

Ace frowned. "I don't destroy everything, you know."

Kelly's lip twitched at Ace's misunderstanding. "In case I'm working," she continued delicately, "or have visitors."

Ace reddened, understanding with a jolt. "Ah, right. Sure. Will do."

"So," Kelly paused, not entirely sure how things were, "are we're good?"

"Yep. We're good."

Kelly was relieved at the sincerity of the statement she interpreted from Ace's body language. They both smiled at each other for a few minutes before she spoke up. "You should probably be-"

"Yeah, I should probably be getting back," agreed Ace. "The Professor was... I was a bit..."

"Irritated?" Kelly offered. "Impulsive? Harsh?"

Ace scratched the back of her neck. "Maybe a little. I'm... I'm going but I'm gonna come back and see you sometime, because you said that was ok and," she rambled, "I'll remember tell Polly to tell you first so there isn't any... You know."

"I'll see you soon I'm sure."

Ace turned to the door before her face turned any redder. "Later, Kit." She paused when she heard a quiet sniff of laughter. She turned and sighed slightly. "You said that in Arabic, didn't you?"

"Na'am," Kelly admitted, nodding.

Ace smirked as she shook her head. A thought crossed her mind and she dug into one of her jacket's pockets. "I almost forgot your present."

"Present?" inquired Kelly. "Tell me it's not a dinosaur egg."

"Heh, not this time," Ace grinned. She pulled out a leather cord.

Kelly's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, God, no. I thought I'd lost that thing."

"It's the present I promised you," Ace grinned.

"It burned my neck so badly I think I'm going to have a scar!"

"It also saved your life," Ace pointed out. "So it breaks even." She glanced at her watch and grimaced. "I've gotta run." Hastily she pressed the formerly enchanted trinket into Kelly's hand. "Keep it. You don't have to wear it."

"I'm going to burn it," Kelly called after her as Ace made for the door.

With a laugh, Ace waved her hand. "No you won't."

The door to the apartment opened and closed then Ace was gone.

That ended well, thought Kelly with a smile. Decided she deserved a cup of coffee (Her third cup for the hour) she entered the kitchen and tried to avoid cackling like a witch as she tore the top of a sachet of instant coffee and poured it into a mug.

Having made her coffee, she curled up on the couch, her hair still damp from her albeit cut short soak. She gave the trinket a wary stare as she turned it over between her fingers. Typical, she thought with a laugh. Of all the things to bring back to the present, I ended up with this. Not a blade, not a jewel, not even an antique cooking utensil but a bit of wood on a cord. It was worthless, pathetic, and not even especially pretty. Regardless, she slipped the cord over her head and the symbol cut out of the wood rested perfectly over the healing skin, hiding it from sight. A similar one of considerably finer make could easily be bought at any market stall for a measly price, but, she decided after a moment, its value could not be assessed aesthetically.

She was halfway through her cup of coffee when that semi-familiar urge to sneeze sprung up out of nowhere. Her nose twitched. She sneezed. As she reached for a tissue, the empty space in front of her rippled. A figure materialised and tugged at his collar nervously as he caught sight of a smile on her face.

"Morning," she greeted pleasantly.

It was only natural that he was suspicious. They had not left on good terms last they had spoken. He had been forced to resort to blackmail in order to achieve his goal. Recovering from his surprise, he turned the tugging motion into a subtle straightening of his tie. "Miss Jones," he returned politely. "I believe you have something of ours to return."

She nodded and rose to her feet. Having crossed the room, she unzipped her backpack and retrieved the plastic zip lock bag. She returned to the couch and laid it gently on the coffee table. The alien's eyes examined the electronic device stored within then reached out a hand to take it. He was halted when a hand was brought to rest on top of his and prevented it from moving. "Actually," she began, the smile broadening, "I was hoping we could discuss a matter of mutual benefit..."