A couple of hours later found Daine in a giggling fit leaning against Alanna. Numair had led her upstairs to a more private lounge attached to an office where Alanna, George, Buri and even Raoul were there. At first she'd thought she'd be butting in, but things were back to normal in no time. It's weird how I though being away from these people would actually change anything… I miss them! Yolane had come in later too, led in by one of the bouncers. Interestingly enough, she'd only picked up a jacket from Numair before leaving in a huff. Alanna forced an explanation from a blushing Numair, who'd sheepishly explained he hadn't exactly enjoyed her presence. At all. She did seem grumpy… Alanna treated Numair like a younger brother, all teasing and shoving. Number took it like a sport and George just laughed. Raoul and Buri were also great to talk to, even though they did come down nearly every weekend. It was nice to be able to just relax and not stress about the future and plans and money… Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones were great too.

Life had been tough this last year. Daine had met Onua when she was a high schooler and Onua was her college-going neighbor. Onua introduced Daine to Alanna and Buri and the others when Daine got into the same school and soon she was part of the group.

The others were older, so when they graduated they all managed to great jobs after graduating. Daine wasn't as lucky. She graduated business school in the midst of one of the worst economic crises Tortall had seen in decades. She managed to scrape a position, a rather good one actually, in Carthak under arguably the most horrible genius ever, Ozorne. She was forced to quit to escape the horrible harassment he put her under and just couldn't find another job. Onua had taken her in, sisterly as she was, and Daine couldn't appreciate it more. She had also taken the break as an opportunity to focus more effort on planning her clinic, bad economy or not.

It had been nice to be able to move back to Tortall, even though it wasn't Corus. Being able to meet consistently with friends was great; they were basically the only family she had. Numair had been an odd new addition, namely because he'd joined the group late, transferring from Carthak to Tortall during grad school. He'd then spent a lot of time doing various internships and study abroad programs; really the only time the others knew him were because of classes and study sessions and those infamous grad school post-final parties. Daine never joined those because she, unlike her friends, was deathly allergic to humans on adrenaline. At least that's what she said every time they invited her. She had heard stories of him though, hilarious and often times completely unbelievable ones willingly publicized by both Alanna and Onua. Their stories definitely didn't do him justice though… He really is very nice. Although seeing him act like a hawk would be great.

"Evin texted you, Daine-y," George called, pulling her back to reality. Daine caught the phone Alanna tossed and checked it. Taking a second to decipher Miri's crazy drunken text-speech, she finally got that he and Miri were heading back. Daine looked back up at the others.

"Hey, my ride's leaving so I should probably go."

"No Daine! We haven't spoken in ages! One of us can drop you off?" Alanna asked, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

Daine checked the time on Evin's phone. It was late but not too late. Plus she didn't have work the next day. She grinned at the others, "Sure if it wouldn't be a problem."

"No problem! I'm staying at Onua's so I could drop you off if you live nearby?" Numair asked, adding more sugar to his coffee.

Daine nodded with a smile, taking another tiny sip from her drink. Noting her difficulty walking upstairs, Numair had strongly recommended she not take too much more. Dumb-dumb was right. At least I can walk now. And tomorrow will be more tolerable. He also had her drink a ton of water. Honestly though, he's probably more of a mother hen than Thayet. Now Daine was making her self-proclaimed final drink last as long as possible.

The conversation around them slowly died down a few hours later, leaving the friends in a comfortable silence. Daine had her head resting on Alanna's shoulder and Numair had migrated to the floor to make room for Buri's outstretched legs on the couch. George was humming some random tune, playing with Alanna's hair and Raoul had his head resting in his hands, random snores coming up every now and then.

Buri sighed, breaking the stillness of the moment. "Well, I'd better get this big lug home," she said, swinging her legs off. Pouring a glass of water from the jug, she offered it to Raoul, shaking his shoulder. "Come on, you big lightweight, you."

Raoul groaned, swatting at her. Buri scowled and shook him harder. Alanna scoffed at her. "That won't do anything to the giant. Pour that water on him."

Buri looked at Alanna, shrugged and dumped all the water on Raoul. He woke up with a yelp. "Leggo," she said bending to pick up her car keys from the coffee table. Raoul grumbled and rubbed his eyes, before standing up and stretching out his back with an incredibly loud pop. He mumbled out goodbyes as did Buri.

"I think Onua wanted to plan a dinner or something tomorrow, so text me the details!" Buri called out, walking out the door.

"Well lass, we should probably get going too. It's been a long day."

"Mhmm," Alanna said. Daine lifted her head off of her shoulder to let her move. Stretching out her neck, Daine tied her now frizzing hair into a practical bun. Unfolding her legs, she downed the rest of her drink, smiling at Numair's snort. He looked up questioningly at her from the floor next to her couch. She responded with a crooked smile.

"Hey do you know any hotels nearby?" George asked, depositing his glass onto the tray. Numair gave a short laugh as Daine turned to the couple in surprise. "Seriously?" she asked, disbelief all over her face.

"Lass, you honestly expect us to plan in advance? Us? You've completely forgotten us!"

Daine rolled her eyes. "I just expected some change is all. It's my fault really, for even having expectations for you two." Alanna stuck her tongue out at that and Daine immediately responded in kind. Alanna and George soon left as well. Now it was just Numair and Daine. Daine helped him gather round the rest of the glasses and trash and just generally tidy up.

"So," he started, breaking the silence. "How was your day?"

"Good actually! Relaxing… Spent some time on the beach. Then went shopping. It was nice. How 'bout you?"

"It was good. Went out for lunch… Finally caught up on sleep and took a four hour nap. Got some work done."

Daine snorted. "Thanks again, for saving little old me from the horrible car."

"No problem! You seemed upset."

"Yeah… Just someone I don't ever want to hear from again."

"Hmm. Ready to go?"

"Daine grabbed her coat and clutch and nodded back at him.

The rest of the club was nearly empty, with just a few employees cleaning up. Wow it must be really late. Time flies… Numair dropped off the tray with the now exhausted looking bartender and they soon left. Surprisingly, the bartender called him "boss" again.

"Hey, Numair? Do you- I mean, are you…" Daine frowned, looking for a nice way to put her question. It'll probably be awkward anyways. We only met like a day ago!

"Am I really his boss?" Numair rephrased for her, cutting through her thoughts.

Daine smiled up at him sheepishly. "Just wondering… Just… never mind."

"Actually that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. I was going to bring it up tomorrow but…" He looked down at her as she struggled to put on her coat while walking. She looked up at him expectedly. "Well," he said, helping her. "I'm actually sort of an investor. I mean, yes I work for Jon but that's just within his company, investing I do on the side. This started out as just any other business proposal but the owners fell into some personal problems and I bought it from them… I always thought owning a club would be fun and it seemed like a interesting hobby-project. But back to what I wanted to talk to you about." He stopped and turned to face her. Daine frowned at the serious look on his face. "Your clinic idea is good. You have everything planned out and I feel like with just a few more tweaks you can sell it to anyone. See, I used to be a venture capitalist so I used to focus more on other sorts of businesses, namely software startups and such. I've gone through tons of proposals like yours. I turned to more a more corporate field a few years ago when I started working with Jon, so most of the things I invest in now I do so more as an angel investor… I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I'm really interested in your project. I'm sure it'll do well no matter how you fund it, but I just wanted to say I would love to be a part of it."

Daine looked up at him in shock. She could hardly believe it. All this time looking for an investor… And I find one when I'm not even looking? She quickly shut her mouth and looked back at him. "Thank you… I mean, I don't really know what to say."

"Nothing right now I guess… I mean you'll obviously want to take some time and I can give you some information about what I've done in the past so you know I'm not scamming you or anything," he laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "We can talk more about it tomorrow though. Are you free for lunch?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool," he turned stiffly, still rubbing his neck. Looking back down at her grin, he ruffled his hair and offered her his arm. She took it laughingly, savoring the added warmth.

The car was parked just a building away. Daine snorted as soon as she saw it. He'd obviously have a nice car given his job and Onua's versions of his lifestyle… But still. A Jaguar? Darn. "Of course."

"Hmm?" Numair questioned.

"It's just, to-be-expected that you'd have a car like this. Forgetting to fill her up, though, just seems particularly blasphemous now."

Numair scowled, blushing. "I didn't forget…"

"You didn't? So you were just stuck in the middle of nowhere for no reason?"

He walked over to the passenger's side and opened the door for her, making sure she was comfortable before shutting it. Coming around the other side, he sat silently for some time before finally explaining, embarrassed, "I read about this one beach with distinctive sands due to some semi-rare mineral in the area so I decided to look for it and see for myself. It doesn't have a name or anything though so I couldn't use my GPS and… I…"

"You got lost!" Daine finished laughing. Numair mimicked her, mock glaring at her from the corner of his eye as he started up the engine. Wow the engine's almost as deep as his voice. The thought sent her into another fit of giggles.

"Well, if my lady is done laughing at her poor knight in shining armor, she might teleth me where she liveth."

Daine wiped her tired eyes, still smiling. "Do you know how to get to Onua's place from here?"

"Um," he started, looking around. "No. I could use the GPS?"

That sent Daine into another laughing fit. "Stop," he said, drawing out the word like a whining child.

"Well, take a left here and then go straight till the last intersection. So, I'm assuming you ran out of gas looking trying to find your way around?"

Numair paused for a minute before nodding solemnly. Aw, he looks so sad! Fine I won't laugh this time. "Ah, I see. So did you eventually find the place?"

"Yes I did! Well, I actually just saw it from a different beach but I know where it is now. It was beautiful… Most of it was red but there was some blue sand and white and it was more of a lagoon with cliffs on two sides… It was great."

"That sounds really nice! Ok, turn right here."

The road they were on ran right along the beach. The waves were crashing against the shore and everything else was quiet. It's so nice being out late… Some of the town's lights were still on on the right and sometimes the waves would reflect particularly bright ones, glittering in the darkness.

"It's beautiful," he echoed her thoughts. She sighed happily as they drove on. About five minutes later she spotted the familiar lights of her own little neighborhood. The houses here were mostly old vacation rentals, all on stilts and painted in pretty pastel colors. It was an adorable part of town, one tourists didn't often spend time at. The small mom-and-pop stores and cafes scattered along the main street were also a great place for locals to relax, yet the few tourists that wandered this far from downtown found them awfully kitschy. Thankfully… At least we get something to ourselves! There were window boxes full of bright little flowers at nearly every house and some had surfboards leaning against them. Daine's favorite part were the bare bulbs strung zig zagged across the main street. They were comforting to look at in the middle of a hard night.

"You can just pull over here," she said through a yawn. "It's just like a block away."

"Daine, It's late! I'm sure you can take care of yourself, but if it's just a block away, I can easily drive you. Should I take a right?"

Daine shook her head at his protectiveness. "Yeah. It's the last one on the right before the shops 'n all."

Numair soon pulled up in front of her house. Parking his car, he gave her a cheeky smile. "See how much easier that was? And you were going to walk… Tsk tsk."

Daine rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks. Where are you staying?"

"Well," he started," I thought I'd stay with Onua tonight but I just hope it's not too late. She wouldn't be asleep would she?"

"Nah. I remember her saying something about some marathon on tv this weekend so she'll be up. She was also texting Buri weird links right before they left and that was what, an hour ago? Less? You'll be good."

"Mhmm. Well, that's good. All the other hotels were booked when I last checked."

"Weren't you at a hotel?"

"Oh yeah," he smirked. "Yeah, I let Yolane have the room. Or rather, she got the room. But at least I got the dog."

Daine raised a brow. "You two… had a dog together?"

He chuckled. "Gods no, that would have been horrible. She was allergic to fur. And happiness. But anyways!"

Daine snorted. "Right, Onua's is just down this mainroad for about two blocks, then a left, then a right a block later," she illustrated each turn with her hand. "It's the green two story with a jungle for a front yard. It's hard to miss." She looked back at Numair, only to see he was watching her with a soft smile.

He snapped out of it and gave her a more gracious smile. "Well, thank you. So two, left, one, right, green garden house."

"Yup! And you want to plan lunch tomorrow morning?"

"Oh yes, right." He scrambled through his pockets for his phone. "Here, why don't you add yourself and I'll text you."

""Kay," she said, punching in her name and number. "Text me when you reach Onua's?"

His eyes crinkled. "Of course. Good night, Daine."

"Good night! And thank you again," she made her way out of the car, heels in hand. Turning back at her doorway she waved goodbye and only then did she hear the engine start. Tonight was quite unexpected…

Throwing her coat on the hook and emptying her clutch, she picked up sleepy Cloud and cuddled her with a smile. "It was great, Cloud!" she squealed, spinning around and watching her dress twirl. She put the fluffy cat down and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Sighing a few minutes later, she walked to the kitchen for some water when she heard a familiar buzz from her couch. Oh right, my phone! Digging it out from beneath some throw pillows, Daine was greeted by a buch of message notifications. Most of them were links and funny pictures from Onua, where does she even find half of these?, but at the top was a one from a new number. Numair! Opening it, she read "Made it! Aren't you proud?" with a smiley face emoji. As she formulated a response, another response dinged. "Oh right, this is my number." Soon followed was, "By me I mean Numair…" Erasing what little she'd typed, Daine just sent a laughing emoji. What a dork. "Good to know! Is Onua awake?" she texted back. "Yup!" was the near immediate response. "That's good!" she replied. Another yawn escaped her, bringing a few tears to her eyes. She added, "I'm going to head to bed. Text me about tomorrow?" She downed her water and made her way to the bedroom. Crawling under the covers, she checked his final text. "Alright! Good night," he wrote, with the creepy smiling moon emoji. Rolling her eyes, Daine put her phone for charge and hid her smile in her pillow. Things were finally looking good again.

AN: Thank you so much for reading everyone! I didn't have much of a chance to edit, so there may be a few issues for both this chapter and the previous. But this one was the longest one yet! Hope you enjoy! And do understand that though I don't really ask for reviews, they are greatly appreciated! So up to you :) See you soon (hopefully!)