When Kelly woke up this time, she wasn't nearly as disoriented as she had been that morning. She was a little confused about the time, trying to figure out if it was 9pm or 9am. It was dark out so she made the obvious leap of logic.

Remembering what she was supposed to be doing tonight and realizing that she was probably going to be late, she practically launched out of bed, getting tangled in the covers in the process. After a protracted battle with the bed sheets (and several choice words) she stopped cold. She briefly tried to remember if she was supposed to meet Zack downstairs of if he was going to meet her here then decided that if he didn't knock on her door in half an hour that she was going to the Tavern to meet him. Fair enough.

It took her longer than usual to get ready and even longer to decide what to wear. Typically Kelly could be ready to go in 20 to 30 minutes, but she was having serious problems with her decision making process. Blue satin dragon shirt or red and black satin dragon shirt? Black jeans... yeah, had to go with the black ones. Real adult shoes, boots or tennis shoes? Humm. Boots. She'd break her ankle if she wore her real adult shoes (which were typically reserved for prospective client meetings). Blue shirt - it was her favorite, after all. Smooth, cool electric blue satin with silver dragons embroidered all over it. It was definitely different, but suited her personality.

A look in the mirror revealed exactly what she expected... cute, but not sexy. Oh well. Cute had served her well in the past, it would just have to do tonight.

Zack hadn't shown up, so she decided that she was supposed to meet him over at the Tavern. When she got there, she saw that she had been right and that Zack was waiting for her. He smiled at her when she caught his eye and walked to meet her.

His eyes were sparkling. "I like that shirt," he said as he ran a hand down her back and she shivered. "Oh yes, I like this shirt." He led her over to a table and they ordered drinks. Kelly had decided that she was drinking Colorado Bulldogs that night and just loved the look on Andy's face when she ordered it. She had to tell him that it was Vodka, Kaluha, cream and Coke. Both Andy and Zack looked vaguely disgusted at the description.

Zack leaned close and said, "Do you want to sit here a while or do you want to dance?"

She thought for a second and said, "Let's dance. I don't think I'm going to get any braver sitting here."

He smiled raised his hand to my face, "You'll be fine. You trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you. It's me I'm worried about."

"I'll take care of you. You won't ever forget tonight." Kelly could tell it was a promise.

He took her hand and led her out on the edge of the dance floor. "We're not going to worry about learning any fancy steps." Zack took her hands and put them first on his shoulders, said, "I don't think that will work," and then moved them to his waist. "Is that comfortable for you?" She nodded and he said, "You're going to have to stand closer than that and put your arms around me." Kelly moved in closer and did as he said. She put her head on his chest and he said, "Now, just move with me."

Zack held her close and swayed in time to the music. They didn't move very much at first, but by the time he did start to move, she moved right along with him. Zack made it easy for her to relax and enjoy herself.

After a few songs, they went back to the table and got a couple more drinks. They talked and watched the others dance, generally having a great time. Zack told her amusing dumb criminal stories and she related similar stories that her dad had told her.

They'd been talking and drinking for a quite a while when Bud walked over. He had a strange look on his face. "Zack, he's outside. You ready?"

Bud and Zack gave each other a look that smacked of conspiracy. Kelly's warning flags went up and she said, "What are you guys doing?"

"Nothing. Stay here, I'll be back in a few minutes. Andy! Get Kelly another drink!" Zack was off like a shot.

Kelly sat there for a few minutes felling just a little abandoned and a whole lot curious. She fought both feelings off and enjoyed her drink. Dr. Wigand wandered in and sat down with her for a few minutes to talk about computers. He seemed fairly excited that they were getting new PC's and hoped that he could help her train the rest of the guys. Kelly just couldn't think of him as anything but Dr. Wigand. He seemed a little nervous around everyone else, but at ease when he was talking about teaching.

Wigand didn't stay long, just long enough for one drink and to say hi to a few people. Once he left, Kelly was left to battle with her curiosity. What the hell could those guys be up to?

She didn't have long to wait to find out. Jeff came in shouting "Stef! Stefannie!! Stef! You've got to come see..."

Kelly was out the door like a shot before the initial confusion cleared. As she was crossing the street, she saw John, Bud, Maximus and Zack looking pleased with themselves. She looked up and saw Sid tied to the CrowesNest sign. Kelly managed to walk up without being seen by anyone. She stood behind the men to the side and watched as Stef came across the street. For several seconds Kelly thought she was going to laugh, until Stef got down to who and why. From the look on her face, she could tell that Zack had managed to really fuck things up.

Stef read him the riot act and managed to include all the guys in her dressing down. They all stood around staring at their shoes. Kelly started to step forward after Stef was done with them and had gone into the hotel, but Trisha beat her to it.

"Are you suitably proud of yourselves?" Trisha asked them.

Kelly watched John step forward and say "Sid got into Stef's room while she was..."

Trisha cut him off, "I know!" and then proceeded to really rip into them, telling them to cut Sid down and then she went back to the Tavern with Hando. The guys all stood around looking miserable.

Kelly seriously considered sneaking off back to the Tavern - they'd all been chastised thoroughly already, but then she got a really good look at Sid. He was wrapped up in a suspiciously familiar looking rope. Oh no, she thought, that's not rope. Those idiots! It was almost as if they had purposely added insult to injury. She stepped forward and said, "You had better not cut him down. That's my cat5 cable you used to tie him up and I expect it back in one piece. I don't even want to know who's idea that was. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. You've embarrassed Stef and you stole my cable. You all know better," she pointed at Zack, "especially you." Kelly didn't have to raise her voice for them to know how mad she was. "Get him down and get me my cable back in one piece and I'll think about forgiving you. That means all of you. I really did expect better from our resident law enforcement."

If they hadn't been blushing when Stef had finished with them, they sure as hell were now. Zack stepped forward and said, "Kelly... I..."

Kelly shook her head, "Stop right there. I am not going to discuss this tonight. Get him down. Put my cable back where you got it. Think about how you've embarrassed Stef and then we'll talk." She looked each of them in the eye in turn. "Good night."

She stalked off into the hotel and back to her room. It was times like this when she wished she smoked. Instead she dug out her loudest most offensive CD and stuck it in the stereo. The only surefire way for her to get a grip on her anger was to go beat things to death with a stick, so she fired up her computer and logged on to play Everquest.

Twenty minutes later, she was no longer mad at the guys, she was mad because some idiot had gotten her and a number of guild mates killed. It had been an accident, a bad pull that resulted in a train, but it still infuriated her. "You sorry son of a bitch!" she yelled at no one, typing furiously away trying to coordinate a corpse recovery. Kelly let loose with another string of foul language directed at the situation rather than the idiot. She continued to mumble expletives at nothing in particular... and then she heard something move behind her.

"Such language."

Kelly stood and spun to face the intruder. "Sid! What the hell are you doing here?"

He smiled and said, "I just thought I'd pay a visit."

"Oh for Christ's sake Sid, can't you come back and torture me later? I'm pretty fucking busy right now. I'm in the middle of a gigantic corpse recovery and I don't have time for your crap."

For a brief instant she thought she saw shock in his eyes. Then she would have sworn that even though his face didn't change she saw interest at the words 'corpse recovery'. "Oh, I see," he said. "Let me schedule you in." He nodded towards her and said, "Note to self, torture Kelly at a later date. Is that better?"

Kelly rolled her eyes. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she's be scared to death at this exchange if she weren't still mad. The little voice in her head giggled and said 'you never knew anger management issues could come in so handy!'. She smiled at the thought. "Yeah, that's much better. I'm going to be pretty busy this week, but maybe we can get together next week sometime." She took the time to take a good look at Sid, and noticed that that he was still bruised and had a small cut over his eye. He must have come here as soon as he got dressed, she thought. That couldn't be anything but bad. Damn... she'd left her knife across the room, too. Oh hell... "You look pretty beat up Sid. Not at all yourself." Kelly crossed to the other side of the room and turned her back to him. She picked up her knife and pocketed it, then picked up a glass. "Here." She turned and threw it to him.

He caught it easily. Rather than watch him, Kelly went back to her computer. If she hadn't established that Sid had never hurt anyone physically, she'd never have turned her back on him. She still wasn't really comfortable, but maybe, just maybe if she ignored him he'd go away. And if he didn't go away, well, she'd handle that later. Having her knife at hand gave her some small measure of confidence. After all, it had a nice ceramic blade that would slice through anything down to the bone. She figured if it came down to the wire that she'd have one chance and in that chance she was going for the nuts.

Sid said nothing for several minutes. Kelly assumed he was fuming over being ignored. She carried on with the corpse recovery as if he had never come in. She swore she could feel him burning holes in the back of her head with his eyes and was about to give in and say something when Sid said, "What's that?"

She darted a quick look in his direction and laughed to herself. So much for me being the center of his attention. Sid's gaze was focused on her computer monitor. "What's what?"

"That. That thing right there." He pointed at one of the other players. She grinned. This was the last thing she had imagined happening. "That's Mojo. He's an Iksar. A big lizard," she added for clarification.

"Well, I can see that it's a big lizard. What's he doing?"

"He's standing around waiting for the cleric to rez him. Resurrect him, I mean," she explained.

"Why?"

"Because he just died and lost experience points. The cleric can give him some of those back." This was a fairly unbelievable turn of events. Sid pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. His presence was disturbing at best. The ignore him and maybe he'll go away thing had backfired miserably.

"Why does it matter?"

She would have sighed, but didn't want to turn his attention to her. "Because it takes hours to get those points. It's worth it to stand around for 15 or 20 minutes to get them back."

"But it's just a game. I don't understand." He truly looked puzzled.

"*You* don't understand?" Her voice fairly dripped with irony. "I flat refuse to believe that you do not understand how important a game can be to people."

Sid looked at her and smiled a chilling smile, "I want to play this game."

"You what? No. No no. Oh no, Sid, you do not want to play Everquest. You can't kill other players. You don't want to play." She shook her head toemphasize. "No."

"I want to play," he repeated. "Move over."

"Oh HELL no! You are not playing on my account! I have a reputation and you are not going to get me banned. You want to play, get your own account, but you are not playing on mine!" Kelly lost any lingering fear of Sid when he'd said move over. He wasn't getting near her account.

"What do I need to get an account of my own?" He was serious. His eyes were glued to the screen.

Kelly though twice about unleashing Sid on the unsuspecting players. If he did anything too underhanded he'd just get banned. He couldn't do any real or lasting damage to anyone in the game and it might take some of the heat off the ladies at the hotel. Decision time. "Do you have a credit card?"

His eyes slid off the screen to meet hers. "No, but I can get one." She knew he didn't mean anything as legal as applying for one.

"No, that's ok. I've got another card I can use. $10 a month isn't going to hurt me." She hoped that if he got banned that using a separate credit card would be her saving grace. She knew full well that if she used the same one, he'd get them both banned.

He looked at her with a strange expression on his face, "You'd do that for me?"

Kelly narrowed her eyes, "Yeah. Why?"

"No reason. Can you do it now?"

She did sigh then. "Yeah, let me finish up here and I'll get you set up. I've got an extra computer you can use until I get yours built. You don't touch this one," she added before he could ask, waving a finger at him, and silently adding 'or me'.

An hour later, she was guiding Sid through setting up his first character. She'd put him on the same server she was on so she could ride herd on him as best she could. It took him forever to decide what race to play and then another eternity before he decided what class. He had to weigh every single plus and minus for every single character. Sid ended up with a dark elf necromancer. How appropriate. Of course then he had to decide on a name. Kelly's suggestion of Sidsix was immediately discarded even when she told him he could have Pointseven for his last name. The look he gave her almost made her giggle. Kelly figured that Sidsix Pointseven would have been perfect and considered nabbing it for a future character of her own. She could outfit him in purple armor! She covered her laughter with a timely cough. Sid never even looked up.

He finally decided on Baneoman after Kelly told him if he didn't pick a name soon that she was going to boot him out. She still thought that Sidsix was a better name than Baneoman and she said as much, only to be met with an ice cold glare. She glared right back at him then laughed to herself, thinking she'd obviously lost her save vs. insanity roll. Yep, this was just plain unreal. Here she was unleashing a nanotech serial killer into an online game. Her gut told her that this had to be a bad idea, but for the life of her she couldn't find any way he could cause real actual harm. Yeah, she'd lost her mind.

Yet another hour slipped away, with Kelly using her Druid to help Sid level. It was called power leveling - a higher level character helping someone get through the lower levels and was very common. She had had some qualms about power leveling Sid, but when he threw a fit after being killed by a bat and then immediately killed again by a snake, she figured it was safest to help him out.

The night slipped by virtually unnoticed. Sid and Kelly bickered back and forth over the game in a basically friendly manner, except when Sid died because he wouldn't stand still long enough to be healed - which was frequently. You would have thought that someone as cold blooded as Sid wouldn't run away from death, but run he did.

"Damn it Sid, stop running! I can't help you if you won't stand still!"

"Heal me! I'm about to die," was his answer.

Kelly made a sound that she hoped conveyed her disgust, "Stand still you idiot or I'm going to let you croak."

Sid didn't listen and sure as hell he died. "You did that on purpose," he said, with a look that would have probably killed a weaker woman.

"Oh bullshit, Sid. If you'd stand still like I told you, you'd have been fine. I've told you a thousand times tonight that you have to stand still, damn it!"

"I had six fire beetles taking chunks out of me and you tell me to stand still? What is wrong with you?" They were both standing now, yelling at each other.

"Me? What is wrong with me? You're the one who can't follow a simple command. How hard is it for you to understand the words stand still?" The madder he got, the madder she got. He was such an idiot! Blaming her for dying!

Sid lowered his voice, "If you had been paying attention in the first place this never would have happened." His eyes shot daggers at her.

"Hell, yes it wouldn't have happened! If I'd been paying attention in the first place, I'd have thrown you out the window like Stef did!" Oops, she thought as soon as she said it. That was probably not the right thing to say.

Sid just stared at her and sat back down, mumbling something under his breath. She would have sworn she heard the word Texas thrown in.

Still mad, Kelly said, "I think that's enough for tonight. I'm tired and you are annoying me."

"No. I'm going to stay on and play. You can go to bed, but I'm not leaving." He was staring at the screen.

Oh hell. She just KNEW this had been a bad idea. Sleep with Sid in the room? Not very fucking likely. Worst part was that she didn't think that Sid ever slept. How the hell was she going to get rid of him now?

Kelly was tired and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. One rather large purple problem was keeping her from sleep and at that very moment he was whining about her not wanting to play anymore.

"I can't believe you are tired," Sid said. "You just want to get rid of me."

Well duh, she thought. "No, Sid, I'm not trying to get rid of you. I have had a long day and a very weird night. I am not going to go to bed with you here, so I am asking you to please leave."

"I want to play," he whined. Kelly rolled her eyes and Sid continued, "I'm almost to the next level. You said I get more spells at that level, right?"

"It will give you something to look forward to," Kelly said, through clenched teeth. I should have stuck him with my knife, she thought. It would have been the smart thing to do.

"I'm sick of killing rats and bats." More whining.

"Sid, if you don't camp now, I am not going to play with you anymore."

That got his full attention. He looked up at her with a shocked look, "But you... you have to play! If you don't play who's going to help me?"

It amused her that Sid was asking her for help. Of all the things he could do, he was still bound by the parameters of the game. He didn't have to have her help to play, but it made all the difference in the world if he did. She thought briefly about it and said, "Ok Sid, one more hour and we're done for tonight. You're shouldn't have any problems on your own after tonight." She sat back down.

"You aren't going to play with me after tonight?"

She dropped her head to the desk. Thump. "I didn't say that. You just don't need me around all the time. You have to learn to play without me around to haul your chestnuts out of the fire." Dare she suggest that he play with others? No, that didn't seem like a good idea either. Yet again she wondered what made her do such stupid things. Maybe she should just take up BASE jumping or something safe like that. Yeah, she could start with jumping out her window. Make a parachute out of the bed sheets!

Her thoughts ran around making escape plans for quite some time until she heard Sid say, "Very good."

She looked up, "What?"

"I made my level." He smiled a very satisfied smile. It was... unnerving. He looked almost happy.

She couldn't help but smile back, "Great! Let's go buy your spells and I'll show you what they do." Sid looked so happy that it was frightening her. It was completely out of character for him to be happy about something that didn't involve someone else being unhappy. Yeah, the bat population of Norrath was a little unhappy with him for killing so many of their brethren, but that just couldn't be the same. She peered around her monitor at him. This could all be an elaborate scheme to get back at her and Zack.

ZACK! Oh no... She'd forgotten all about him. Oh, she knew he wasn't going to like this one bit. Great. Even if Sid hadn't had a plan, it worked. She considered lying to him, but dismissed that idea almost immediately. That was no way to do things. Besides she hadn't technically done anything wrong. It probably looked bad, but Sid hadn't even touched her. Nice going, dumbass, she thought. Nothing like adding a little bit of distrust to a relationship early on, you know, just to get it out of the way right up front.

She sighed and figured that there was nothing for it but to tell Zack that she had gotten Sid hooked on a computer game and then tell him that Sid had spent the night in her room. Beautiful. No reason for anyone to be upset about that. Right?

Once they got Sid's new spells and she explained what they did, Kelly and Sid hashed out what he wanted for his PC and when they would be able to play again. Naturally Sid wanted her undivided attention for the next several nights, but she wasn't willing to devote that kind of time to him. Besides that, she had a job to do starting Monday morning and she sure as hell wasn't spending the rest of her weekend playing video games with a serial killer. She told Sid he could take the computer he'd been playing on back to his room and keep it until she got his built so that he could play whenever he wanted to play. Sid didn't think much of that idea at first, but when she told him flat out that he was not going to be spending time in her room without her, he relented.

When she finally got rid of Sid, she threw herself down on the bed and groaned. What was she going to tell Zack? It wasn't too long before she fell asleep fully clothed, the events of the night finally taking their toll.

After about an hour of sleeping like the dead, she woke with a jolt to a knock on the door. She pushed herself up off the bed and got an unfortunate look in the mirror. She had a serious case of bed head and the strangest patterns on her face from the comforter. Kelly grabbed a baseball cap out of the bathroom and jammed it on her head before opening the door. If it was Sid she was going to kill him.

It was John. One look at him and part of her anger came flooding back. He looked at her and said, "Good mor... uh, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Long night. What can I do ya for?"

"What?"

"Er, what can I do for you? What do you want?" She knew she sounded less than friendly.

"Can I come in?"

She sighed and opened the door all the way. "Come in, take a seat. Don't mind me, I'm always like this when I don't get any sleep." She mumbled something about a conspiracy and Grand Central Station under her breath. She flopped back down on the bed.

John took a seat at the small table and got a good look at how she was dressed. "Do you always sleep with your boots on?"

"What do you want, John?"

"To apologize and let you know we put your cable back." He looked so sincere that she almost smiled. After all, she really wasn't mad at John. While she didn't doubt for a second that he had been a willing hand, it really was Zack's fault for not knowing when to keep his mouth shut.

Kelly was known for her ability to hold a grudge, but she wasn't inclined to hold one against John. He really was sorry. She stared at him for a long minute and let him sweat. "Ok. Accepted. Can I go back to sleep now?"

He looked puzzled, "That's it?"

She grinned at him, "Yeah, that's it. I figure you've either already apologized to Stef or are about to, so I might as well make this half of things easy."

"What do you mean?" Kelly couldn't decide if he was purposely being dense or if he really had no clue.

She shook her head. "I mean that she's not going to let you off this easy and she shouldn't. You guys screwed up big time, but I'm mad at Zack, not you. He never should have said anything."

"Kelly, you've got to understand that we're all brothers and brothers talk. Zack was angry with Sid and very worried about Stefannie. He had to tell one of us. It got out of hand, I admit, but no one meant for anyone to get hurt." He ran a hand through his hair, "Trisha chewed us out too, you know."

"Oh yeah. I know. I heard that part. She pretty much said what I wanted to say, so I figured I'd jump in and save my cable before you guys actually cut Sid down." A thought occurred to her and she asked, "Um, is Zack still mad at Sid?"

John nodded, "Yeah, I think so. Why?"

"Well, um... No reason. I, uh, I... Nothing, nothing. Really, it's nothing."

He raised an eyebrow, "Who are you trying to convince?"

"John, Sid was here all last night." Both of his eyebrows shot up and she rushed on, "We were playing Everquest. He snuck in here while I was playing and decided he wanted to play too." She stood up and started pacing. "Zack's going to freak. What am I going to tell him?"

"Sid broke into your room and he wanted to play video games?" Kelly hadn't though John's eyebrows could go any higher, but they did. "Sid? You're sure it was Sid?" Kelly shot him a dark look and John laughed. "I can't believe it! He didn't try anything?"

Kelly shrugged, "No, I didn't really give him a chance. I don't even want to think of why he actually came in here, but once he saw what I was doing he insisted that he play. I set him up with his own account and everything." She pointed to her desk and said, "He sat right there and played all night. He just left about an hour or so ago. You're sure Zack's still mad at him?"

"Pretty sure." John nodded to emphasize his statement.

"Oh crap!" She started pacing again. "I knew it was a bad idea but what was I supposed to do? Slice him up because he wanted to play a computer game?" John made a strange choking noise and she looked at him, "Stop giggling, Biebe, this isn't funny!"

He tried to stop, but failed. Kelly glared at him for at least a second before she started giggling too. It really was absurd when you thought about it. She only hoped that Zack would see that as well as John did.

John finally stopped laughing and said, "Well, if you want I'll tell Zack for you. I'll tell him that you fell asleep in your clothes, complete with boots if you think that will help. I owe you that much."

"Um, no, I think I'd better tell Zack myself and soon, too, before Sid does." Something connected in her brain and she narrowed her eyes, "Why do you owe me anything?"

"Using the cable was my idea," he said sheepishly. Kelly watched in fascination as his ears started turning red. He shrugged, "It was the only thing I could think of that was strong enough to hold Sid."

To John's surprise, that started Kelly giggling again. He sat watching her, not sure if it was safe for him to laugh about it too.

Kelly sat down and wiped her eyes, "I can just see you dorks trying to figure out what to tie Sid up with. 'Oh, I don't think this will do. How aboot this?'" She mimicked the big Alaskan's accent and he smiled at her. It appeared that he was forgiven. "Go on, get out of here. You have bigger apologies to make and I've got to go talk to Zack."

John stood up and said, "So we're ok?"

She stood and said, "We're ok, John." She gave him a hug and said, "But if I ever catch you messing with my stuff again you won't know what hit you."

"Fair enough." He hugged her back. "If you need someone to talk to after you tell Zack, come find me."

She stepped back and shook her head, "I'll be fine John. If Zack's half as reasonable and level headed as you are, it'll be ok. He might be mad initially, but he'll come around." Kelly gave him a lopsided grin, "If he doesn't, I'll just have to kick his ass."

John gave her a thoughtful look, "I bet you could, too."

They said goodbye and Kelly got on about the business of cleaning up. She felt like she'd had at least two whole hours of sleep after a shower, maybe even three. Clean, dressed and mostly awake, she went looking for Zack. She had a the first part of a plan, a weak plan, but a plan none the less.

She was lost in thought and nearly smacked right into Max in the lobby. Kelly lost her balance trying not to run into him and nearly fell over. Max reached out a hand to steady her and said, "Slow down, where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Gotta find Zack. Have you seen him this morning, General?" She couldn't help but stand up straight when she saw Max. They really hadn't had much time to talk and she had yet to see Gladiator, so she didn't know much about him. Still she could tell that this was a man of honor.

"No, I haven't. Kelly, I want to apologize for last night. We shouldn't have used your cable."

She put on her grim look, "You mean you shouldn't have tied up Sid. And you shouldn't have used my cable to do it."

He nodded sharply. "Yes, that's what I mean. Using the cable was my idea."

Kelly's jaw dropped in surprise, "What?" Her head spun. John had said it had been his idea, hadn't he?

Max mistook her surprise for anger, "Don't blame Zack for that. I suggested that rope wouldn't hold Sid and I said that I thought that you might have brought something that would hold him."

"You?"

"Yes."

"But John said it was his idea." She tilted her head and grinned. What on earth were they up to?

Maximus said seriously, "John found the cable, but he wouldn't have looked for it if I hadn't suggested it."

Kelly shook her head, "General, don't worry about it. I've forgiven John and I forgive you. I'm on my way to forgive Zack, too, if you're concerned." She smiled at him and this time he smiled back.

"Will you call me Max? I'm not a general here."

"Ok, Max it is. We should talk sometime when I don't have so much forgiving to do. I bet you can't wait to learn all about computers," she teased him.

A pained look crossed his face, but he smiled anyway. "I can't wait," he echoed.

Kelly left Max and resumed her search for Zack. Peaches thought she had seen him go into the restaurant, so she headed that way. She spotted him as soon as she walked through the door and he saw her. A thought about how cops never sat with their backs to the door flashed through her mind.

Zack stood and walked towards her with a serious yet hopeful look on his face. Before he could say anything, Kelly threw her arms around him, said, "Good morning, Zack" and kissed him. To say he was surprised was an understatement.

"I, uh, I..." Zack tried to talk, but instead decided to kiss her again. That was ok with Kelly. She'd been apologized to enough for one day.

Zack pulled back and rested his forehead on hers whispering, "I'm sorry."

She said, "Me too, Zack. We need to talk. Let's sit down."

He took her hand and led her back to the table. "What are you sorry for?"

Kelly knew she was blushing but that putting it off wasn't going to help. "I think I did something that's going to make you mad, but it shouldn't make you mad because I didn't do anything wrong," her words tumbled over each other. This wasn't coming out like she'd rehearsed, damn it all! "Zack, I taught Sid to play Everquest. He spent last night in my room."

Zack shook his head as if to clear it, "What? You taught Sid to play some game and he spent the night in your room? I don't understand."

She laid out the facts for him just like she'd done for John. She saw his face tighten when she said that Sid had snuck in her room, but she also thought she saw some amusement there when she told him about Sid being killed by snakes, bats and rats. Clearly Zack didn't understand the game that she was talking about and he certainly didn't understand why Sid would want to play, but at least nothing bad had happened. "So then I made him leave. He's got his own computer now so there shouldn't be any reason for him to be back in my room again. I'm so sorry!" Kelly was having a hard time meeting Zack's eyes.

He reached across the table and put his hand under her chin, tilting her head up. "Hey, it's ok. Sid didn't do anything to hurt you did he?" She shook her head and he continued, "Then it's ok. I trust you. If you tell me he was in your room all night playing a computer game, then that's what happened."

"I'm just so afraid that Sid will lie and tell you things that didn't happen. You know, I was ready to cut his nuts off if he tried anything," she added as an afterthought.

Zack burst out laughing. It wasn't so much that he thought Sid being castrated was a great joke, but the mental image of Sid trying to regenerate his nuts really killed him.

Kelly looked at him and smiled, even though she didn't see what was so funny. "We're alright then?" she asked him.

"Yeah, we're alright."

She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until that moment. She sighed, "Thank God. Maybe now I can get some sleep."

Zack grinned at her, "Oh, I wouldn't count on that."