For disclaimers: see part one.

Thanks to Fiona for doing the necessary spelling and grammar check. It's apreciated..;-)

Quickly undressing, she went to stand at the shower furthest from the door, going about her business in a hasty manner. While she was in the process of getting dressed, she heard the sounds of footsteps approaching and her motions stilled as blue eyes looked warily at the door,hoping against hope.

A shadow filled the doorframe and the girl moved to stand with her back to the wall, covering herself with her clothes when she saw a bulky older girl, Crimi, enter the room closely followed by 3 of her friends. Of course you couldn't call the other girls 'friends' since all they did was follow the older girl around so they themselves would be safe. Many little groups had been formed, that much had been clear from her first minute inside. And those groups preyed on the weak ones.

Tears started to fill youthful blue eyes as she crouched down, shutting down her mind for the events she knew would take place. Images of a game of soccer being played on a sunny day started to fill her mind's eye, followed by the proud smile of a broad-shouldered man and the loving gaze of blue eyes so similar to her own. Coming back from the happy memories she found herself on the cold floor, clothes in a wet bundle to the left of her and the shower filled with people who were ignoring her. All aware of how things worked. The girl managed to stand on shaky legs and grabbed her clothing together. She hurt all over, but was determined to take a new shower. She wanted to get clean again. Suddenly a helping hand led her to a nearby vacant spot, assisted her in cleaning the scrapes on her back and gently helped her get dressed.

When she was fully clothed the girl finally dared to look at the person who helped her and when she did she gazed into compassionate brown eyes, set in a tanned face framed by unruly black curls.

"You didn't fight them." It was a statement, not a question.

"You could have. It doesn't look like you're a weak puppy," The girl continued, assessing the young girl opposite her. Granted, she was young, but tall for her age and while not overly muscled there was an athletic build to her body.

A shrug was her only answer, causing the brown eyed girl to grab her by the arms and giving a few rough shakes. "Listen up. I don't care what you did that got you here. You don't strike me as the ruthless type, but there are plenty of those in here, so no matter what happened you need to defend yourself. Do you hear me?"

Sighing when there was no response, she shook her head sadly. "We're still young and we'll get out at some point. Able to go on and make something of our lives. That's what keeping me sane around here. But we need to protect ourselves. I've learnt how to. Let me teach you. Please?"

"Why?" It was the first word spoken by the young girl since she'd arrived and her voice sounded a bit raspy as she asked the question.

A crooked smile was her answer. "Stick with me and maybe I'll tell you someday." Sticking out her hand she added, "I'm Lori. What do you say to getting some breakfast?"

Nodding slowly, the girl accepted the offered hand. "Kyra. And breakfast sounds good."

Kyra stared at the clock. 3.07 am. The dream had woken her up, as it had many nights before. Something was different though, usually the dream stopped before meeting Lori, startling her awake, sweating and breathing hard.

'Okay, it wasn't a very pleasant dream this time either. Rather dark memories, but I prefer this. At least I know things changed after meeting Lori, changed in a positive way.'

Throwing back the covers the now fully awake woman grabbed a shirt to cover her naked body and padded silently to the kitchen, intent on making some warm milk. Passing the couch she caught a glimpse of Danni's sleeping face bathed in moonlight and she came closer, studying her face as she had at the beginning of the evening.

Kyra could feel herself calm down, the emotions that had been pushed to the surface settled and she let out a large breath.

"Sounds like you didn't sleep too well," a sleepy voice startled the tall woman and she looked up to see cloudy green eyes studying her in silence.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you," Kyra apologized, continuing her trek to the kitchen. Hearing a sound behind her, she turned and took in Danni's appearance. The blonde was rubbing her eyes to get more awake and looked absolutely adorable with her bed hair. Blonde hair was standing straight up at one side of her head, while the other side looked glued to her scalp.

Joining her friend at the fridge Danni yawned, "That's okay. Had a bad dream?"

Kyra got out a carton of milk and answered, "Sorta. Not as bad as usual though."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Danni was bound to be curious about why she had trouble sleeping and she wasn't ready to tell her.

Danni felt the tall woman tense up beside her and noticed the death grip Kyra had on the milk-carton so she decided to stifle her curiosity. "Here, give me that. I'm great at warming milk," Danni smiled lightly, bumping the other woman out of her way with her hip.

Kyra stepped back to give the smaller woman room to maneuver, inwardly shaking her head in wonder. Letting the tension flow from her body while idly watching Danni putter around in her kitchen, she let her thoughts flow around freely in her head. She got so distracted she didn't even notice the milk was done until a glass was thrust into her hands.

Kyra followed Danni back to the living room and settled down on the couch where they proceeded to share the drink in silence. Rising, Kyra reached for Danni's glass and brought them into the kitchen. When she came back Danni greeted her with a warm smile.

"Guess we'd better get back to sleep now. You know we need to be ready for the game, right?"

"Yes m'am!" Kyra loudly stated, grinning and muttered under her breath, "Obsessed m'am."

"Hey! I heard that! It's an important match, gimme a break here. I really, really want to win." Danni whined, throwing a pillow at the smirking woman who caught it without a problem.

Kyra returned the pillow and crouched down in front of the seating woman. "We will win then. Not a problem," she promised. "And Danni, thanks."

She stared at the floor for a moment. "Thanks for not asking, it means a lot to know you care enough to respect when I'm not ready to talk."

The blonde woman nodded. "I do care about you, Kyra. And if you ever have the need to talk, about anything, I'll be here," she stated in a compassionate voice.

Blue eyes locked on green and stayed that way for what seemed like forever. Finally Kyra smiled and leaned in to place a feather light kiss on Danni's cheek, whispering, "I'll take you up on that offer."

She'd disappeared before the blonde had had a chance to react. Danni put her hand up to touch the spot where she could still feel the soft tingling sensation Kyra's lips had provoked and with a dreamy sigh she settled down on the couch again where she fell asleep almost immediately.

'Well, it started out as a friendly, yet competitive match,' Kyra rolled her eyes and looked at the large clock when the play stopped and the other team got rewarded a free kick after another harsh tackle. One of many this afternoon, on both sides. 'Only 10 more minutes to go,' she sighed, watching Sue being harassed by some members of the opposing team and jogging closer to support her if needed, but the referee had jumped in before Kyra reached them and the players spread out to await the result of the free kick.

The game had been tough, 0 -1 behind at half time, and Josh really let loose during the break. It had put some fire in the team and a smart change in tactics did the rest. The coach had decided to bring Wendy in to play the left wing, with Danni occupying the right. Kyra had gotten permission to cross the midfield and support the attack if the right opportunity arose and this change resulted in being able to put pressure on their opponent.

A pressure that paid off in the 7th minute after half time when Mari managed to get the ball behind the opposing goalie after a scrimmage in the box, then, 15 minutes before the end, Danni rounded off a excellent pass by Sue, directing the ball into the upper left corner of the goal.

So now they were trying to keep it together and fend off the last wave of attacks. Winning this match meant they would secure their top position, something that was very important with a couple of tough matches coming up in the next few weeks.

The earlier part of the game had been harsh, but fair; now, emotions seemed to be running high. Sue, especially, received some very hard tackles and she was sought out over and over again. Being no kitten herself, the defender gave as good as she got, a fact that only angered the other players more and Kyra was glad time was running out.

Finally the whistle sounded and the victorious team moved past a smiling Josh, taking the offered hand or pat on the back with a tired, but happy smile on their faces.

The locker room was a flurry of activity, joyous voices ringing out above the noise caused by running water and slamming doors. Danni stopped next to Kyra, "Not bad, was it?" she asked, green eyes dancing.

"Do you mean me or the team?" Kyra replied with an answering smile, getting a roll of the eyes.

"Sorry, but my focus wasn't on you during the match, so I have to mean the team. Our important win and everything," Danni said, giving the smirking woman a light push.

She was lying only a bit, she told herself. Cause she had noticed Kyra on the field, it was hard to miss her. Not only because of her height, but more so because of the passion she showed when playing. With those remarkable blue eyes sparkling and the completely focused expression, she was without a doubt one of the more noticeable players on the field. 'And one of the better ones,' Danni thought, impressed by that fact since Kyra had told them she hadn't played in a long time.

The blonde's eyes turned unfocused and slightly glassy when she envisioned her new friend on the field. Dark hair tied back in a pony tail, the crooked smile that indicated she was having fun and the full-out smile that had blown her away. Danni had never seen that smile on Kyra's face before, and catching her eye after scoring the winning goal and seeing it directed at her had made her heart flutter.

Coming back to the present she saw Kyra looking at her with a curious expression. She quickly muttered something about needing to borrow soap to cover up her embarassment, but she got saved by Mari who had jumped on a bench to get above the crowd.

"Girls! In order to celebrate our little victory I think we should all go to Miss Patty's this evening. So, dress up and we'll meet at Chad's at 9 pm. You too, new girl," the enthusiastic girl added, looking straight into Kyra's scowling face and not wavering until she had seen a confirming nod.

"Alright then. Let's get clean and I'll see you all tonight. Oh, and girls?" Mari waited a beat to get the complete attention.

"We rock and we are on top!!!" she shouted out. The statement followed by hollers and whistles from the rest of the group, making a deafening noise. Slowly everyone started to get undressed and the sound dropped to an acceptable level

once again. Much to the pleasure of Kyra who had barely been able to resist covering her ears.

Once again Kyra was the first one outside, showering and dressing without any further interruptions. She had to wait until Danni was ready so the blonde could walk home with her and pick up her purchases of the day before. She was pacing a bit impatiently, preferring to have left straight away.

"Hey, Kyra!" She turned to seeTora approaching, waving wildly. The redhead came close and grabbed the tall woman by the arm. "Geesh, you change quickly. Anyway, Danni asked me ask you….wow, that sounds a bit weird doesn't it?" Tora fell silent, trying to find another way to pose the question and not noticing the impatient glare she received from Kyra.

"Come on, Tora. What is it you had to tell me?" she spurred the slow-thinking girl on.

The other woman looked up a bit sheepishly, "Sorry, it's annoying isn't it? Lars always tells me how irritating it is when I do that. Can't help it, it's one of my quirks."

"One of many, I'm sure." Kyra mumbled under her breath.

Putting her hands on her hips, Tora glared at the darkhaired woman. "Not that many, thank you very much. Besides, that's what makes me so damned loveable!" she ended in a huff, throwing her hair over one shoulder in a dignified manner.

"But what I'm trying to tell you is that Danni asked you to wait up for her since she still needs to get her stuff from your place."

Kyra nodded, "I know, that's why I'm still hanging around here actually. You think she's gonna be long? Cause I sure need a drink."

Tora raised a brow. "Long? She's usually the last one out. Sure, she says it's because she's the captain and needs to talk to everyone after the game and make sure we all leave okay, but I'll let you in on a little secret…" she leaned in closer, making a show of looking right and left before whispering, "Danni is one very, very slow girl when it comes to things like that. Don't tell her I said that though."

Kyra grinned a bit, remembering the struggle that morning to get her overnight guest awake and ready to go. "I discovered that particular trait this morning. Quite a mood she has upon waking up."

The redhead shuddered reflexively, reliving many a gruesome scene provoked by her friend's notorious morning mood. "You said it. Come on now, let me buy our new star player a drink. You played really well, you know that? Anyway, Josh will probably want to have a word with you and I know for a fact that he is where the drinks are, soooo follow me!"

Tora set off, meanwhile giving an amused Kyra the rundown on her teammates and the juicy gossip. 'Me and chatterboxes, what did I do?'

Sue glanced around and saw that only her captain was left in the locker room. Danni was in front of the mirror, trying to get her blonde hair in some sort of order, meanwhile muttering angrily against a particularly unruly lock of hair.

"I'm off now, Dan. See you tonight?" she said, her hand on the door.

"Hmm?" the blonde looked away from the mirror and waved absentmindedly. "Yes, I'll be there. How could I disregard an order like that anyway?" she answered wryly.

Chuckling the brunette waved, leaving Danni behind who was busy getting all her stuff together and back in her bag. 'I really should pack less,' she thought to herself, grinning at her next thought. 'But I need every single item in that bag!' It was a recurring theme at her house when growing up and that sentence was used many times as a defense to her father's loving criticism.

Even as a little girl she dragged a whole lot of little things along with her, besides the normal brush, lipgloss and such items. Notes, pieces of paper with writing on it, a candy wrapper. She had a hard time throwing anything away that had even a shred of meaning to it.

Glancing around to check if she, or any of her teammates, had forgotten anything, she threw her bag over her shoulder and left, turning off the light as she closed the door.

Sue was looking at the ground, thinking about her plans for the afternoon. She had gotten into a fight with her girlfriend the night before and she had to make it up to her somehow. 'Miranda is the best thing that happened to me in a long time, so why can't you just come out and show her off? It's not like your friends are against being gay. Hell, most of them are themselves!'

Wrapped up in her thoughts, the brunette didn't notice the person blocking her path until she ran into them. "Oh, sorry" she apologised, surprised when the other person didn't let her pass.

"Well, I see you keep knocking people over outside of the field as well." A voice sounded to her left, making her realize there were 3 women cornering her.

Looking up she recognized the players of the other team, the woman she had nearly run over being her direct opponent.

When she stared into hard brown eyes, Sue swallowed, immediately sensing they weren't there for a nice talk. Raising her chin in defiance she challenged them. "I said sorry. Let me pass please?"

The women weren't moving an inch and she went on in a more friendly voice, "Come on guys, it was a game. The match is over, let's just shake hands and leave it at that. We both made some hard tackles."

The bulky woman standing in front of her snickered. "Yeah, right. I don't think so honey. I still have some frustrations left from the match. You're one mean bitch on the field and now you're standing here all arrogant because you won."

Sue sighed, flinching when an alcohol-filled breath reached her nostrils. "I'm not being arrogant, but it does look like you guys have had a bit too much to drink. Think this over before you act alright?"

As soon as the words left her mouth she knew it had been the wrong thing to say. The two women at her sides suddenly grabbed her arms in a surprisingly strong grip and Sue couldn't avoid the fist flying towards her face.

She moved her face along with the punch, but the impact was hard enough to make her see stars and she wavered on her feet for a few moments. "Still as tough as you were on the pitch?" her assailant said mockingly.

Struggling in vain to get free, Sue focused on the face in front of her. "Still tougher than you, but that's easy isn't it?" She spit out in disgust, managing to lash out with her foot and connect with the other woman's shin.

This caused the grip on her arms to tighten and it felt like her right shoulder was ready to pop out while her opponent was fuming, preparing to land another punch.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Danni came rushing over, having spotted the scene as soon as she'd left the building. "Let go of her, you idiots!" she yelled, pushing the women aside who had been holding Sue.

Not sure what to do, they let the livid blonde push them away while she positioned herself between Sue and the 3 assailants. "You okay?" Danni asked over her shoulder, a bit worried when she saw the blood trickling down Sue's cheek.

"Stay out of it little girl. This has nothing to do with you." The tallest of the trio said menacingly, moving forward to invade Danni's personal space. The blonde wasn't budging.

"You're wrong there. She's a member of my team and even if she wasn't, 3 against 1 seems a bit cowardly if you ask me. What's up? Can't handle things on your own?" The blonde sneered, ignoring Sue who was trying to get her to back away.

"Ooooohhh, I'm pretty sure I can handle you. Don't worry." The woman towering over Danni breathed, causing her to step back and wave her hand in front of her face.

"Well, all you have to do is breathe close by and you almost have me knocked out," she stated in disgust. "What have you been drinking?"

Brown eyes narrowed dangerously as the woman followed Danni's backward movement, very obviously not planning on giving up.

It was Danni's turn to sigh. 'Okay, that was clearly the wrong to say. Good going Dan, insult a woman who's already intent on using you as a practice bag. How do I get into these situations?'

Kyra was happily slurping the last of her chocolate milk from the container, meanwhile listening with half an ear to Tora recount some story about a run in with her teacher.

"…..and then she had the nerve to tell me….Hey! What are you.." Tora was rudely interrupted when an arm blocked her path. Looking at Kyra she widened her eyes in surprise at the expression she saw on the woman's face.

The tall woman was looking intently in the direction of the locker rooms, her eyes narrowing perceptively and the blue turning icy as she ordered: "Stay here."

She left Tora bristling at being spoken to in such a manner until the redhead saw where Kyra was headed in a fast and determined pace. Three women seemed to have cornered Danni and Sue, and her friend was about to be treated in a very unpleasant manner.

"As if I'd let anyone get their hands on one of my friends while I just stand and watch," she muttered, making her way over to the scene in a jog.

Danni kept moving backwards until she bumped into Sue. "Ehm, do you think we can get out of this?" she asked the brunette who wearily shook her head in response when she saw all routes to escape were cut off.

"I'm sorry, but I won't be of much help either. My head's kinda fuzzy and my right arm is killing me; can't really move it." She whispered apologetically.

Danni turned her head and noticed the paleness of her friend's face along with the glassy look in her eyes and an arm that was being cradled against her chest.

Thinking quickly she faced the woman closest to her and asked: "What's your name?"

She hoped that starting up a conversation might enable them to get out of this without any more fighting. That hope was quickly crushed when the woman answered: "Serena, not that it's any of your damned business!" She gave the small blonde a firm push that made her stumble backwards.

Sue tried to catch her but unfortunately Danni landed against her already painful right shoulder and a white flash of pain soared through her arm, causing the brunette to waver until everything went black.

Hearing a thump behind her, Danni glanced backwards and immediately fell to her knees to check on the fallen woman. She didn't really get a chance to do so since she was roughly pulled back to her feet by the still enraged player of the opposing team.

The two other women decided this was a good time to join their leader again and they all closed in on the blonde. "One down, one to go." Serena laughed wickedly, joined by the chuckles of her teammates.

Danni felt her arms beginning to bruise from the death grip the other woman had on them and she began to struggle to get free. Serena pushed her into the arms of her teammembers and ordered: "Hold her."

"Oh no you don't" came from behind the two women and they were pushed aside again, but this time by a tall, dark haired woman who seemed to be very pissed off.

Danni felt gentle hands grab her and she sighed in relief when Kyra came into her line of sight. With a quick movement of the head her friend said: "Go help Sue, she's still not really coherent it seems." Kyra glanced at the brunette who was groggily trying to get up.

"But what about you?" Danni protested, not happy about leaving Kyra to face the drunken trio. With a gentle shove to the back the tall woman pushed Danni towards Sue and the approaching Tora.

"Don't worry, I can handle myself with these three cowards." She stated, directly staring into Serena's eyes. The woman wasn't about to budge, although the intensity of the icy blue stare of this new opponent made her feel a little bit uncomfortable.

Not paying attention to the dangerous vibrations rolling off of Kyra, the big woman swung a punch in the direction where the woman had been seconds earlier.

A quick shove to the back made her stumble into her two friends and the three of them landed on the ground, limbs entangled while Kyra watched, standing calmly with her eyebrow slightly raised and an amused smile on her face.

"Well, if that was all you have," she baited the frustrated woman who rose with a growl and immediately charged the dark woman. This time Kyra faced her opponent head on and easily blocked the punches which only served to enrage Serena even more and she put more force behind her blows.

Kyra grinned when she noticed the other woman circling her, making her back vulnerable for an attack from behind. She saw Serena give a quick signal with her eyes, heard the warning shouted by Danni and she finally went on the offensive. She landed a solid punch in Serena's stomach that made her opponent stumble backwards a few paces and Kyra quickly spun around to face the other two. One went down with a swift roundhouse kick to the side of the head while the other was introduced to one of her fists.

Hearing a gasp behind her she faced Serena again to find the woman was face down on the street after falling over Danni's conveniently outstretched leg. She shrugged sheepishly. "She came at you from behind again."

"Thanks," she winked, walking over to pick up the large woman by her shirt and dragged her to where her friends were lying. "I'd advise you to go," she said to the groggy women, deliberately turning her back on them and returning to where Tora and Danni were helping a still dizzy Sue to her feet.

"We'd better get her to a hospital." Tora said, looking worriedly at the brunette who was in no state to walk, or do anything for that matter.

Kyra nodded. "I'll go get the car and I'll take her. Why don't you go find Josh and tell him what happened. Maybe he wants to do something. File a complaint or contact the other coach, I don't know."

Tora nodded in agreement, but Danni said: "I'm coming with you, Kyra. You need some help with Sue and I bet you don't even know where the hospital is."

The dark haired woman smiled her thanks. "All right then, let's go," she answered, moving over to help Sue stay upright.

'Good thing we were late this morning and decided to use Kyra's car to get here.' Danni thought, still wondering about where her new friend got the money for a place like hers and the car, without working. 'Or at least no job that I know of,' she amended, realizing she'd only known Kyra for a week or so. And it wasn't like she lived in luxury or anything, but she had noticed that she also didn't seem to pay much attention to her expenses either.

'Ah well. Who cares anyway, Dan. Just be grateful the car's here when you need it.' Danni hurried towards the parking lot, intent on driving the car as close as possible so that Sue didn't have to walk more than she needed to.

"I want to thank you guys for helping me out back there," Sue said, wincing when she tried to sit up in the hospital bed.

"Here let me help you," Danni rushed over and helped her in a more upright position, fluffing the pillows behind her back at the same time. "And no need to thank us. You don't think I'd just let them do whatever they wanted to, do you?" she asked indignantly. "Besides, Kyra did the most."

"Hmm, I still can't decide if it was more brave or stupid of you to jump in like you did," the uncomfortable woman muttered, trying to get out of the spotlight.

Sue didn't let her, though, "Yeah, I owe you big time, Kyra. Where did you learn how to fight like that anyway? That kick looked awesome."

"I got someone to teach me when I needed it a few years back and kept the skills up ever since. Ask Danni, she's seen my workout corner." Kyra explained, avoiding telling them the whole story. She saw her blonde friend's mind working so she quickly tried to divert the attention away from her fighting skills.

"Do you need anything, now that you're supposed to stay here for the night?" The doctor had told the injured woman that he'd feel better if she stayed overnight given the blow to her head and the fact that she'd been unconscious for a few moments.

They'd given her some painkillers to take care of her headache and the pain in her shoulder. The muscles around her shoulder joint were sprained and she'd need to give them some rest, but the expectation was that, a few weeks from now, Sue would be as good as new.

The brunette shifted a bit in the bed, slightly flushed she finally answered. "Ehm, if you could call my friend Miranda and let her know where I am, she'll know what to bring me."

Danni rose to go find a pay phone. "Does anyone want something to drink while I'm at it. I'm sure there are some phones at the cafeteria." Receiving twin orders of soda, she turned to go.

"Dan?" Sue called after her and softly said, "Would you please break the news gently, I don't want her to worry. Oh, and tell her I'm sorry for last night."

The blonde smiled gently at her red-cheeked teammate, "I will, Sue. But don't you think an apology would come better from you? Whatever it's for."

"True and I will, but letting you tell her is part of what I'm apologizing for," came the cryptic response. "Besides, I want to get her in a good mood before I do, and I think this, combined with me being hurt, will soften her up a bit in advance." Sue said with a crooked smile on her face.

Danni glanced back at the room they were leaving. "Sue will be okay, don't you think?" she asked her silent companion.

Kyra nodded in response. "Yeah, she's pretty tough and having her girlfriend there surely helped. Even with Miranda yelling at her for the first few minutes," she added, chuckling.

The blonde laughed along. They had been surprised when a door slammed open while they were talking to Sue and a very petit woman with an abundance of black curls stormed into the room with blazing eyes, immediately starting to admonish Sue for getting in a fight and scaring the hell out of her by receiving a call from the hospital.

Danni and Kyra could only look on flabbergasted when they saw their teammate lie back and nod every once in while. Never had Danni seen Sue so compliant and she couldn't believe that small woman, even smaller than herself, had the brunette eating from the palm of her hand.

When Miranda finally had to come up for air, Sue took advantage of the silence and softly said: "I'm sorry honey."

'Well, that certainly proves she has Miranda eating out of her hand too,' Danni smirked to herself when the small woman threw herself in her partner's arms, giving the brunette a fierce hug.

Kyra coughed a bit and it wasn't until then that Miranda noticed the other people in the room and she turned a bright red. "Ehm, sorry. I…I didn't see you."

Danni smiled at her reassuringly. "Not a problem. We spoke on the phone, I'm Danni, your friend's captain and this is Kyra, another player on the team."

Wanting to get up and shake hands, Miranda was surprised when Sue held her in place. Smiling apologetically at the two, she settled back and snuggled up to the brunette's side, glancing from her partner to Danni and Kyra.

"Alright, could someone now please tell me what happened?"

Taking this as their cue to leave, Danni and Kyra headed for the door. "We'll let Sue tell you the whole thing. We should get going. I'll call you tomorrow Sue to see how you're doing." Danni said in farewell.

"Okay. Hey, guys." Sue called after them. "Thanks, both of you." She sincerely stated, looking them both in the eyes.

"It was nothing."

"Anytime."

The responses came simultaneously and with a grin and a short wave the pair closed the door behind them.

part 4