Moonlight?

He shifted a little, tugging the warm comfort of his sleeping bag closer over his shoulder. The light did not go away, and he turned his head until his eyes were in shadow again. The darkness welcomed him, and he sighed contentedly as sleep came creeping back.

Until the light chased it off again. It was following him, and he twisted restlessly. The glow did not abate, and he pulled the sleeping bag up over his head in irritation. *Stupid moonlight.*

The soft whisper of cloth continued even after he stopped moving, and he froze. He forced his eyes open, blinking the drowsiness of sleep away and suddenly remembering a remark Ashley had made a few days ago. Earth's moon was on the day side of the planet right now.

He threw the sleeping bag away from his face and turned his head toward the source of the noise.

A shimmering violet sphere hovered in the air beside him, casting an ethereal glow over Astrea's features as she watched him. She sat next to his sleeping bag, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them, looking for all the world as though her presence was nothing out of the ordinary.

"What are you doing here?" he mumbled, putting his elbows behind him and struggling to sit up.

She shrugged a little. "I was wondering the same thing about you."

"I *was* sleeping," he informed her, rubbing his eyes and telekinetically pushing the glowing sphere to one side. "What are you doing up?"

"I just came back from Aquitar," she said, shifting her position a little.

She was wearing pajamas, he realized suddenly. In the dim light, it had been hard to tell until she moved. Though they hung loosely over her body and covered her from ankle to wrist, she looked very feminine... and maybe even a little--fragile.

"How come you're sleeping up here?" she asked, and he blinked. "Fragile" was not a word he often associated with her, and he hoped he hadn't been staring.

He shrugged uncomfortably. "Andros and I used to sleep up here. Maybe I like remembering."

She glanced upward. "So it isn't because of the stars?"

He watched her, wondering if that was a way of disguising the real question. "What do you mean?"

"Because you like being here better than being closed inside your room," she said frankly, looking back at him.

He fixed his gaze on the soft light emanating from the sphere that still hung beside her. It bobbed as he pushed it with his mind, but the light did not flicker. She didn't seem to have to concentrate on it at all to keep it glowing.

"Zhane?" Her tone was gentle, and he couldn't keep his eyes from sliding back toward her. "I could help you, you know."

"I don't need help," he said, trying not to sound defensive. "There's nothing wrong with me."

She was silent for a moment. Then she asked quietly, "How did it happen?"

"What?" he muttered, even though he knew what she was talking about.

"This," she said, gesturing around the room. "Why can't you stand being closed in?"

"It's late," he said shortly. He didn't want to snap at her, but he didn't want to talk about it even more. "Some of us need to sleep."

She didn't move, and he tried not to glare at her. "Are you going to leave?"

She shook her head.

"Fine." He lay down again and deliberately turned his back on her. Pulling the sleeping bag up under his arm, he closed his eyes and waited for her to go away.

Of course she didn't. The longer he waited, the more he realized what a futile effort it was to try and out-stubborn anyone related to Andros. She would probably still be there in the morning when he woke up--as if he could sleep with her sitting there.

"The first time KO-35 was attacked by Dark Spectre," he muttered at last, "I was inside the school when it collapsed. I was trapped there for hours until Andros found me. Happy?"

When she answered, it wasn't what he expected. "But Andros said he didn't know what happened," she said, sounding--to his surprise--a little forlorn.

He winced, remembering that Andros had indeed told her he "didn't know the details". With a sigh, he admitted quietly, "Andros knows I don't really want people to know."

"But..." she trailed off.

He frowned. He hadn't heard her uncertain for days, and he wondered what was wrong. He couldn't help rolling over, then, just to get a look at her face.

She was studying him with an expression he couldn't quite make out in the shadows. "Am I... 'people'? I mean--I know how close you and Andros are..."

"No, Astrea--" He pushed himself up again, bracing his arms behind him. "You're not--like everyone else; that's not what I meant."

"Is *that* why you can't tell me, then?" she insisted, when he couldn't find the words to continue. "Because I'm not like your other friends?"

"Astrea--" He looked down, poking the edge of his sleeping bag for lack of anything better to do. "The rest of the team doesn't know."

She didn't answer, and when he glanced up at her, he found her still watching him. "That you're claustrophobic?" she asked, her tone uncertain.

He shook his head slowly. "Only you and Andros know that." Then, remembering, he added, "And Saryn. He might have told them, I guess. But if he did, no one's ever said anything."

She only looked more bewildered, and he realized suddenly how strange it was to see her openly confused. Normally she covered up her puzzlement as though it was a weakness she was ashamed of. "Why did you tell him?"

"I didn't. He found out, like you did."

She hesitated. "Do you--wish I didn't know?"

He came very close to saying "sometimes". But... she was still pulling that "fragile" act, and she was waiting on his answer as though it was important to her. For the first time since he had known her, she looked--vulnerable. No... dependent?

He wasn't sure what made her seem different. But now was obviously not the time for brutal honesty. "No," he said softly. "I don't mind that you know."

She smiled a little, and he reached out to touch her fingers. "If there's anyone I trust as much as Andros," he added impulsively, "it's you."

She actually looked down at that, and he felt a smile spread across his face. Was she blushing? He couldn't tell in the violet light. "You look really pretty tonight," he murmured, before he could change his mind. "I like your, um, pajamas."

He didn't have time to consider how silly that sounded, for she immediately stretched her arms out in front of her and regarded them seriously. "Are they right?" she asked, sounding almost eager to get away from their prior topic of conversation. "They're not what Ashley wears to bed..."

In point of fact, they looked exactly like Andros' pajamas, when he bothered to wear them, but Zhane didn't tell her that. "Nothing looks like what Ashley wears," he said, with a faint grin. "She's--unique."

Astrea gave him an odd look. "What do you mean?" she asked, sounding a little defensive.

He shrugged a little, suddenly uncomfortable. "Well--you know. She dresses differently."

"You *all* dress differently," she said, playing with one of her loose sleeves. They seemed to be a little big for her, which must have been intentional--but it had the effect of making her look terribly young, and when he tried, he found he couldn't picture her as Astronema at all anymore.

"It's confusing," she added, and he tried to repress a smile at her petulant tone.

"If it's any help, you make it look really easy," he offered. "I know how hard it is to try and adjust, but you could have grown up like this for all it shows."

She didn't answer right away. At last, she said slowly, "Sometimes... I think I would have liked that."

"*I* would have liked it," he said without thinking.

She lifted her gaze to his and studied him. "Would you have?"

The light from the globe caught in her eyes and reflected there, making her eyes seem to glow violet. He had told her he liked seeing her use her magic, and it was true--but he wondered, suddenly, if that was what she was referring to. If she had grown up on KO-35, that magic wouldn't be a part of her now.

"You'd be different," he replied softly. "But so would I, because I knew you. I'd like to think those differences wouldn't matter."

"But you don't know that," she told him, still staring at him intently. "How much of--all this--is just coincidence? Coincidence that we met, coincidence that we're both here, on the Megaship, now..."

"How much of that matters?" he asked. "We *are* here, now, and it will never happen differently."

"But what if it *had*?" she insisted.

He shrugged helplessly. "What do you want me to say, Astrea? Are you looking for some kind of destiny? Maybe things did happen the way they were supposed to--maybe this *is* destiny."

She looked down, and he tried not to sigh. "I can't imagine feeling any differently about you," he said quietly. "If it had happened differently, I can't believe I'd care any less for you."

This time when she tilted her head up, he couldn't resist. He reached out tentatively to brush her hair away from her face, and she let him do it. She gazed back at him as he leaned closer, but she didn't respond when he kissed her gently.

He drew back uncertainly, and she gave him a measured look. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?"

He could feel himself blushing, and hoped she couldn't tell in this light. "It was supposed to make me feel better," he muttered, and he saw her lips quirk a little.

"Did it work?" she asked, her tone more forgiving this time.

He shook his head wordlessly.

"Why not?" She sounded genuinely curious, and he shrugged uncomfortably.

"You can't kiss someone if they don't want you to. Either you both enjoy it, or neither of you do."

"Who says I didn't enjoy it?" she murmured, and he felt her lips on his before he even realized what she was doing.

He closed his eyes, as surprised as he had been the first time to feel her so close of her own accord. She didn't touch people very often, though she didn't seem reluctant, exactly. It just didn't seem to occur to her.

When she drew away, she didn't go very far, and he watched her tilt her head to one side. "Now do you feel better?" she asked seriously.

He tried not to smile, but he couldn't help it. "Yeah," he admitted, and was relieved to see her smile back.

"What you said before, about caring?" she asked. Not waiting for him to nod, she said quickly, "That was really nice."

He looked at her uncertainly, but she looked perfectly solemn. "I meant it," he said, hoping she wasn't teasing him. "I--I can't imagine not knowing you."

She reached out to curl her fingers around the glowing sphere that provided their only illumination. Pulling her hand closer to her, she gave the impression of plucking the globe out of the air and holding it in front of her. "Maybe you're right," she said slowly, staring down at it.

She seemed to be responding to something he had said, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe we were supposed to know each other," she said, lifting her gaze to his. "The way we do, I mean. I've been fighting for the wrong thing for a long time now, and without you, I might never have realized it."

"You would have," he said, watching her roll the globe into her other hand without appearing to think about it. "You never stopped being a good person, Astrea. You were just... misled, for a while. You would have figured it out on your own eventually."

"Do you really think so?" she asked, watching him carefully.

He nodded. No one as strong as her could mistake the truth for long. "I'm sure of it."

She smiled a little and looked down at the globe in her hands. Then, to his infinite surprise, she held it out to him.

He caught her eye, puzzled, but she just sat there, waiting. Finally he held out his own hand, and she tilted her palm so that the glowing sphere seemed to slide off of her hand and into his. As soon as it touched his hand, it flared briefly and disappeared.

For a second, they were in complete darkness. Then another globe, identical to the first, sparkled into being above her still outstretched palm, and he could see what he held in his hand.

The globe had disappeared, replaced by a little five-pointed star. It looked very much like the stars in Ecliptor's "bracelet", and although he couldn't tell in the violet-tinted light, he was sure it was purple. Tiny streamers of stuff glittered from one of the points as he turned it over, lending the appearance of a captured shooting star to the object.

He glanced up at her questioningly, and she averted her eyes with a self-conscious shrug. "It was... easy to get bored, sometimes, on the Dark Fortress," she murmured. "No one to talk to except Ecliptor--I learned to make a few things. Not very useful..."

"It's beautiful," he said with a smile, charmed by her gift. "Thank you."

She looked up from under her eyelashes and smiled back, and he felt the strangest feeling warm him from the inside. He didn't know how long he stared at her, just letting her happy and somehow innocent expression captivate him.

Then, abruptly, she said, "I should get some sleep. I'm sorry I woke you, before."

He blinked, and quickly shook his head. "I'm glad you did. I mean--it was nice to talk to you. It's always nice to talk to you."

She giggled a little at his repeated corrections, and he grinned and gave up. "I didn't mind," he offered sheepishly.

"Good," she said, tossing the shimmering globe into the air and gathering herself to stand up. "I'll see you in the morning, then."

"You could sleep here," he said, before she could get to her feet.

She looked at him with a completely blank expression, and he tried not to blush. "Just so you wouldn't have to go all the way back to your room, I mean. Andros' sleeping bag is in the closet over there, if you want. It's--it's kind of pretty under the stars."

He held his breath, hoping that hadn't sounded as ridiculous as he thought it did. He had only said it because he didn't want her to leave, but it could easily have sounded like something else. He was glad there was no way she could know about his reputation for flirting back on Rayven.

"I'll think about it," she said at last. "If you tell me why you're here."

He frowned, trying not to sound defensive. "I already told you. Or at least, you guessed."

She turned her head so that the light was behind her and he couldn't quite see her face. "But it doesn't make any sense. You were at school during the attack? Where was everyone else? Why did Andros have to find you?"

His fingers clenched around the star she had given him, trying not to think about that day. She didn't want to know why he was here; she wanted to know why he *had* to be here. Why he hadn't been able to help her in the zord cockpit the day before.

"You don't have to tell me," she said, sounding disappointed. "I just--you know everything about me, and I didn't even know you'd been in hypersleep till Ashley told me."

He shrugged, trying to lighten the mood. "It isn't something that comes up in casual conversation. 'How are you, Zhane?' 'Oh, claustrophobic and recovering from hypersleep; thanks for asking.'"

"No," she agreed, her tone cool. "Not in casual conversation."

He closed his eyes, realizing that he had just implied that the conversation wasn't important to him. "That's not what I meant," he said quietly. "I was just trying to make a joke."

The glow behind his eyelids lightened. When he opened them, he saw her resting her chin on her hand and watching him inscrutably, the globe hovering beside her face. "I know," she said, when his eyes met hers. A small smile lit her face. "It was funny. But it didn't answer the question."

"No," he agreed quietly. Pushing his sleeping bag out of the way, he took a deep breath. "The day Dark Spectre attacked, I was stuck at school after it let out for the afternoon. I--" He hesitated, wondering how much to explain. "Do you remember the little black birds that were everywhere on KO-35?"

She seemed to think about that for a minute, and just as he was about to say it didn't matter, her expression cleared. "The really noisy ones that woke us up in the morning!"

He nodded, grinning at her excitement. "Yeah. Me and a few other kids caught some and put them in the headmaster's office."

She looked at him closely. "'Some'?" she repeated, a small smile on her face.

He lifted one shoulder in an innocent shrug and admitted, "Almost thirty."

He saw her bite her lip, and he could have sworn she was trying not to giggle. "That's why you were there after school?"

"He made us stay and clean up the mess after classes got over," Zhane said ruefully. "So Andros went home without me, and the five of us that got caught were the only ones still in the building."

"Who didn't get caught?" she interrupted, and he rolled his eyes.

"Who never got caught? Andros, that's who."

She clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "He helped you?" she asked, her voice muffled through her fingers.

"He always did. And he always admitted to it; that was what got me. No one would have suspected him if he'd just kept his mouth shut, but he had to own up to everything."

She frowned, lowering her hand, and gave him a curious look. "Then why didn't he say anything that time?"

"He did." Zhane smirked. "But I told them he had nothing to do with it, and that he was just trying to help me out like he always did. After that they wouldn't believe a word he said. No one wanted to think badly of the kid who lost..."

He trailed off, and he caught her eye guiltily.

"His sister?" she asked, sobering a little.

"Plus he was a future Ranger," he added quickly. "They were supposed to be everything good about our world--it would have looked bad to keep punishing him for things that the people involved swore up and down that he didn't do."

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth again. "No one else told on him either?"

"Of course not," Zhane said with a grin. "We all thought it was a great victory to keep him from getting in trouble. The teachers thought he was so perfect, and there he was, planning these things out for us."

She giggled. "He planned?"

"Oh, he was great at it! He knew when the school was open, and how to keep the birds quiet while we snuck in. If he got caught, he might not have helped us anymore."

"So you weren't just trying to be nice," she said, a delighted look on her face.

"We were," he protested. He pretended to be indignant, but it was hard to do with her looking so openly happy. He was hard-pressed not to just gaze at her and bask in that expression. "It just happened to work to our advantage."

"Of course," she said, attempting to look more serious and mostly failing. "So all of you were at school that afternoon, except Andros."

His smile faded as he remembered the point of the conversation. "Yeah. The attack alarm sounded before we were done, and we all took off for the shelter. But--"

She said nothing while he hesitated. "I had to go back," he said at last. "I forgot my coat, and I didn't want to leave it. We thought it was a drill--all the frontier planets had those sometimes--and I figured it wouldn't be that big a deal. The others went on ahead, and I went back to the school.

"I was inside the building when the fighters broke through our defenses. One of the first strafing runs went straight through Keyota, and they decimated the academic district." He looked down, turning the purple star over in his fingers. "They hit the primary school before I could get out, and the walls started coming down around me."

He could still remember the terrifying slow motion of everything around him. It was as though time really had slowed down, and he knew everything that was going to happen before it did. He had been in one of the hallways when the ceiling collapsed, falling around him faster than he could move and somehow slower than he could bear.

"Your coat?" Astrea demanded suddenly, interrupting the replay in his mind. "You went back for your coat?"

She seemed upset somehow, and he looked up at her glowing sphere. "Andros' locket was in my pocket."

She had no reply for that, and after a moment he sighed. "He had a swim test that morning, and there was a data disc in his locket. It was take the disc out or not wear his locket, so he gave it to me to keep for him. I put it in my coat pocket."

"Oh," she said, in a small voice. He saw her reach up to touch her own locket. "That was--nice of you."

He finally caught her eye, and saw her close her fingers around her necklace briefly before letting go of it. "It meant a lot to him."

"It wasn't worth your life," she protested, but it sounded half-hearted.

"I thought it was a drill," he repeated, though he wasn't sure he wouldn't have gone back for his friend's locket even if he had known.

"Would it have mattered?" she asked, seeming to read his mind.

He gave her a suspicious look. "Are you listening to my thoughts again?"

She shook her head quickly. "No, I--it sounded like something you would do."

He hesitated, then admitted ruefully, "I'm not sure how to take that."

"It was a nice thing to do," she repeated quietly.

He smiled a little, intending to take it as a compliment whether he told her or not. "Andros tried to find me at the shelter," he said, picking up the story again with some reluctance. "But he was in the residential area, and he figured I was with the academic group. They started the evacuation even before the fighters got through, so he and his parents were offplanet before anyone knew I was missing."

"But..." She looked both worried and puzzled at the same time. "You can talk to him, wherever you are. How come--"

She didn't finish, but he knew what she meant. "I was unconscious," he said simply. "The ceiling pretty much fell on top of me. If I hadn't been next to one of the fire doors, I probably would have gotten crushed. But the metal doorframe wouldn't bend, even when the walls fell, and it held enough stuff off of me that I had space to breath--and move, when I woke up."

Her eyes were wide. "How much space?" she asked, as though she was afraid to know.

Wordlessly, he held his hands shoulder-width apart. She swallowed. "How long were you there?" she asked tentatively.

He tried to shrug, reminding himself that it had been a long time ago. But he couldn't help glancing up toward the dome quickly, just to reassure himself. "Three and a half hours," he answered. "Give or take a few hundred years."

She didn't say anything, but when he glanced back at her she was still staring at him with that worried look. "Why so long?" she wondered aloud.

He tried not to sigh. "Andros heard me as soon as I woke up, but no one would listen to him--they kept telling him I was on another transport. And the transports were under orders to maintain radio silence until they reached their destination, so no one could check."

She bit her lip and didn't ask the next question. But he felt suddenly bad for making her drag it out of him. "Finally," he continued without prompting, "Andros said that if they weren't going to do anything, he was going back to KO-35 himself.

"They didn't believe him, but Andros always carried his morpher in his backpack, even though he'd never used it. He pulled it out and morphed right there in the middle of the evacuation. DECA teleported him onto the Megaship, and they landed practically on top of the school to get me out."

"Were you..." She regarded him intently without finishing the question.

"I was all right," he muttered, looking back at her sphere of light. "Physically. But I haven't been able to stand small spaces since."

They sat in silence for a moment, until she said quietly, "Thank you."

He glanced at her in surprise, and she added, "For telling me. I'm really glad you had Andros to come back for you."

"Thanks for caring," he said, surprising himself.

Without a word, she got to her feet and walked away, the glimmering sphere following her across the observatory. He smiled when he saw the light pause by the "closet" he had pointed out earlier. Then it was coming back toward him, and he gathered his sleeping bag closer to him as she tossed Andros' down nearby.

She hesitated when she looked more closely at him. "Should I have two?"

He looked down, trying not to be embarrassed. "You already do. We roll them up two together. It's... more comfortable that way."

She seemed to accept that, and he wasn't sure if she understood the reason behind it or not. But he had talked about it enough--he wasn't going to bring it up again unless she asked.

Astrea spread one sleeping bag out over the carpeted deck as he had and pulled the other one up over her lap. Watching her, he couldn't help thinking of a little kid at her first pajama party. She pushed her pillow around uncertainly, then glanced over at him.

He smiled. " 'Night, Astrea," he said softly.

"Good night," she said slowly, looking around at her sleeping arrangement. He watched as she lay down carefully, prodding her pillow into a new position and pulling the sleeping bag up to her chest as she curled up.

He would have loved to keep watching her, but as soon as she closed her eyes, the glowing sphere above her went out. The light vanished as if it had never been, and he blinked, trying to make his eyes readjust.

Finally, he lay down himself, putting his hands behind his head as he stared up at the stars. As tired as he was--and he was exhausted--he didn't feel even slightly sleepy. The only sleep he had gotten since Thursday night had been the few hours he and Astrea had managed to grab between Aquitar and the lake this morning. It had seemed like far too little at the time, but now he couldn't convince his body to make up for it.

All he could think about was the girl lying beside him. She wasn't really that close, but he could hear her breathing, and that was enough to completely occupy his mind. He couldn't help noticing that when she curled up, she had turned toward him. Was she thinking about him, too?

"Zhane?" Her quiet voice broke into his musing, and he turned his head toward her.

"Yeah?"

"Is this--something friends do?"

He hesitated. "Me and Andros do."

She was quiet for a moment. "But Ashley said... 'You can't have guys at sleepovers. They're guys!'"

He recognized her inflection as Ashley's, and knew she was quoting something that had been said to her--presumably at the sleepover Ashley had dragged her into last week. "That was a girls' sleepover, though."

It wasn't a reason, and he knew it. But he wasn't sure what she would say if he told her she was right. It felt nice to have her so nearby, and he didn't want her to leave.

"So?" she demanded, not moving from her position between the sleeping bags. "What's the difference?"

He winced. "This... isn't a girls' sleepover?"

She didn't answer. He thought she was annoyed, until he heard her soft sigh of amusement. "I guess not," she agreed at last, and he heard her yawn. Then she shifted under her sleeping bag and repeated, " 'Night, Zhane."

He waited a few minutes, just listening. He even thought she might have fallen asleep. He wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. So he waited until he wasn't sure she was awake, and left it up to chance. "Astrea?" he whispered, as quietly as he could.

"Yes?" she replied immediately, and he shook his head. She didn't sound the slightest bit sleepy.

"What... exactly... are we?" he asked, only barely keeping the bargain he had made with himself to ask if she was awake. "I mean--if this *wasn't* something friends do... would you leave?"

She seemed to consider that. "No," she said seriously. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, she added, "Because then I'd have to fold up these stupid sleeping bags again, and I have no idea how."

He froze, at a complete loss for an answer.

"I'm kidding," she said, and the sleeping bag rustled again as she turned. "I thought we already agreed we weren't--just friends."

He frowned into the darkness, trying to relax a little. "We did?"

" 'It was never just a game to me,' you said. 'But now it could mean something. If we wanted it to.' What did you mean by that?"

It was a moment before he found his voice. "Do you always repeat things word for word?"

"Only when it's important," she said, her voice a little softer than usual. "That was. What did you mean?"

"I meant... not just friends," he said, using her phrase. "You're right."

There was another rustle, more prolonged this time, and there was enough starlight to show movement beside him. She had pushed herself into a sitting position again, and he thought she was looking at him. "But what does that mean, exactly?"

He rolled over onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow, despite the fact that he couldn't quite see her. That was exactly what he had been wondering. "I'm not sure."

"Well..." She hesitated. "Ashley called me your girlfriend this morning."

It sounded almost like a question, but it was one that he was afraid to answer. He had been very aware of that word as soon as it was said, but Astrea hadn't seemed to mind. Now he wondered if she *really* hadn't minded, or if she had just been covering her annoyance.

"Was she wrong?" Astrea asked.

He took a deep breath, trying not to make it *sound* like he was taking a deep breath. "I don't know. *Are* you my girlfriend?"

"Would that make you my boyfriend?" she countered.

He swallowed. She didn't have to make it sound like a bad thing... "Yeah, I guess it would."

"Are you?" she pressed.

"I'd like to be," he admitted quietly. He winced, realizing what he'd said, but she had just kept questioning him until answering was easier than being safe.

"Me too," she said decisively.

He chuckled at her tone, relieved by her words as much as amused by her attitude. "That's settled, then," he said, more to tease her than anything else.

"Yes," she agreed calmly, resettling her sleeping bag over her legs. "So--" She seemed about to lie back down when she thought of something else. "Is sleeping together something that boyfriends and girlfriends do?"

His eyes widened, and it took him several seconds to realize that she meant it literally. "Astrea, we're not--sleeping together, the way most people mean it. We're just... sleeping, in the same room."

There was a brief moment of silence, and then a purple glow seared across his vision. He flinched back, and immediately her voice said, "I'm sorry--I should have warned you."

She sounded contrite, and he blinked his eyes rapidly to adjust to the sudden light. Another light globe was hovering in the air, casting a violet glow over her features and illuminating their immediate surroundings.

"It's okay," he said, giving her a smile. "Just didn't expect it, that's all."

"So," she said, when he waited for her to speak. "What were you talking about?"

He had been afraid she would ask that. "Well... Cassie and Saryn sleep together. We're just--together, while we're sleeping. See?"

She frowned at him, the expression clearly visible in light of the newly formed globe. "Are you trying to confuse me?" She sounded almost plaintive, and he forced himself to sit up too, just so she'd know he was taking her seriously.

"Of course not," he said. "It's just--when they say 'sleeping together', they don't mean sleeping. They mean, you know... kissing and stuff."

"We kissed," she offered, and he tried not to smile.

"Not like that. You'd hit me if I kissed you the way they do."

She hesitated. "If--I promise not to, would you show me?"

He stared at her, his smile fading. He had been trying *not* to think how huggable she looked in those pajamas all evening, just for his own peace of mind. And now she was asking, not only to be held, but to be kissed...

That was a request he couldn't turn down, no matter the circumstances. He slid across the floor toward her and rested his hands lightly on her shoulders. Looking down at her expectant face, he couldn't help but feel a little uncertain. "Tell me when to stop," he said softly. She nodded, her eyes wide as she gazed back at him.

He leaned forward, closing his eyes just before their lips touched. He kissed her once, lifting a hand to run his fingers through her hair. He waited just a moment, and when she didn't protest, he nudged her mouth open gently.

He felt her hands on his arms, but she wasn't pushing him away. He ran his tongue lightly over her lips, pulling her a little closer and letting his hand slide around behind her neck.

She squirmed, and he was about to let her go when she sidled closer, moving her hands up to his shoulders. He tilted his head and kissed her again, mouth open on hers just as softly as before. His eyes opened in surprise when her tongue met his and she pressed a little closer to him.

That was an invitation he couldn't resist, and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her again, reveling in the feeling of her slight body within his embrace. She linked her hands behind his neck and returned his kiss tentatively, her mouth warm and soft on his.

He stroked her hair, just barely registering the silkiness beneath his fingertips. Her lips were so much more appealing, and he couldn't focus on anything but their kiss and the feel of her arms around him.

He didn't want to get carried away--she had only asked a favor, after all--but when he hesitated, she covered his lips with hers again. Before he knew what was happening, her tongue was carefully exploring his mouth, and her warmth was flowing into him through the thin material of their pajamas.

*Not quite a little kids' party after all,* he thought distantly, running his hand gently down her back. When he thought about it, he couldn't believe this was happening, that she was actually kissing him in the middle of a dark and completely empty room... so he tried not to think about it.

She made that part easy. He made sure not to kiss her too hard, to not let on what he was starting to feel, but every time he hesitated he would feel her lips on his once more. The feeling swept him away, and he let it, holding her as close as he dared while their mouths melded together.

Her hand slid down his chest, and only then did he realize that his hand was doing the same thing to her. He found himself kissing her neck, lower and lower, until his lips were on her collarbone, and still she didn't protest. The fingers of her free hand were caressing his hair, and he promised himself he would stop when he reached the collar of her shirt.

But it wasn't buttoned as high as he remembered it, and he began to realize just how far this little "lesson" could go if they weren't careful. Closing his eyes with an effort, he rested his forehead against her shoulder. He tried to calm his breathing and come up with some sort of slightly coherent excuse, but neither was easy.

"You're a fast learner," he murmured at last, forcing himself to pull away. He stroked her cheek reluctantly and gave her one more kiss, breaking it off before it could turn into anything more. "If we don't stop, we really will be sleeping together."

He could have kicked himself for that as soon as he said it, but there was no way to take it back. "Sleeping together means having sex, then," she said, sounding just as breathless as he felt.

He nodded wordlessly, not trusting himself to say anything.

"Why didn't you just say so?" she demanded, reaching out to tap the side of his head in what he assumed was supposed to be a reproving gesture.

He couldn't help the grin that took over his expression as he stared back at her flushed face and exasperated glare. "Because showing you was so much more fun?"

Her glare softened a little at that, and he was positive she had to stifle a giggle. "You certainly managed that," she murmured.

"Because you asked!" he reminded her, a little indignant.

"I didn't say I didn't like it," she said, turning her gaze back to him with a smile.

For a moment, he was entranced. Then he gave his head a shake and moved pointedly away from her. "Don't look at me like that. At least not until it's daytime and we're surrounded by lots of other people."

He grabbed the edge of his sleeping bag and threw himself against his pillow with finality. "I need some sleep. If you have any other questions? Ask me in the morning."

He heard her giggle this time, and he smiled to himself. He wasn't sure what they were going to do with the feelings between them, but he felt somehow better to have everything out in the open. At least he didn't feel like the only one in the relationship anymore.

A moment later her heard her sleeping bag rustle, and the violet glow blinked out. They were once more in darkness lit only by the faint shimmer of starlight, and he took a deep, quiet breath, trying to make his heart stop racing.

The he heard her voice again, idle and a little mischievous as it drifted over to him. "Zhane? Does this mean I shouldn't tell Andros that we 'slept together' in the morning?"