AN: I do not own The Slayers, I just play in the sandbox.

"Here we go!" Amelia cheered as she grabbed Lina and pulled her to the dance floor. The crimson haired sorceress laughed as she danced with the princess. The past few months had been stressful. Between Gaav wanting her dead and then Hellmaster kidnapping Gourry, Lina had seldom found a chance to completely relax. So when they found a restaurant that also had a band and a place for dancing they were all very happy to blow off steam.

They'd not been dancing for long when they passed the bar, where Zel was talking to Gourry. As Lina and Amelia passed, Amelia nodded at Zel, who sighed. Amelia suddenly spun Lina around and pushed her towards the bar as Zelgadis pushed the tall swordsman towards her. Somehow they caught each other, arms splayed, looks of confusion on their face as they regarded each other. Amelia smiled as she exited the dance floor, not at all perturbed by the loss of her partner.

Lina felt the butterflies explode in her stomach as she wondered what Gourry would do. Fortunately for them both, he recovered quickly and moved so that they were in a proper dance hold as he took the lead for once. The silence became unbearable, so Lina commented, "Hey, you're pretty good at this."

"When I was training to be a swordsman they focused on dance to help with the foot work." He explained, "It's a lot of the same principles really."

"That's what my sis said. She used to make me practice with her."

"So that's why you're good at this, too." He said, and she felt her face heat at the compliment.

"Well, if this keeps up, I wonder what else we'll find we have in common aside from the love of the road."

"And good food."

"And being very good at killing the bad guys."

"And keeping each other alive."

They stared at each other for a moment, and Lina waited for him to do…something. Time passed, almost as awkwardly as that night by the fire. And when they moved by the table where Sylphiel was seated, watching them, Lina realized that something wasn't going to happen then. But really, it was for the best. Hellmaster had targeted Gourry for a reason. It wouldn't be good to flaunt their relationship and hurt Sylphiel or give another bad guy any ideas.

Our relationship!? Lina thought. Wow! My mind went there.

They continued to dance, keeping a polite distance. The awkwardness died away as she became more certain that this was as far as they would go tonight. She started to focus instead on how good it felt to have him so close and to feel him in her arms. He had been gone for so long, and she hadn't been sure that she would ever see him again, much less hold him. Without thinking, she felt herself lean closer to him. She wanted to rest her head on his chest and hear his heart beat. But she stopped as she saw Sylphiel again, sitting alone, and for some reason the Shrine Maiden's eyes seemed greener than usual.

It rattled Lina for reasons that she could not decipher. Sylphiel got up and walked out of the bar, and the memory of Sylphiel's Dragon Slave rose within her. Lina had been so preoccupied at the time when Sylphiel had cast it, and since returning from the Sea of Chaos she'd been so busy with other matters that Sylphiel's accomplishment was all but forgotten, but now the question of why Sylphiel would learn such a spell was weighing on her.

"Sylphiel really likes you." Lina said quietly.

"Does she?" Gourry asked cluelessly.

"How could you not notice?"

"Well, I'm not the brightest star in the sky." He replied.

She waited for him to say something more, and when he didn't she felt strangely irritated. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

"Do about what?"

"Gourry!" She yelled as she pulled away from him, "What are you going to do about Sylphiel liking you?"

"Nothing." He said.

That was not the answer she was expecting. She shook her head incredulously, "Nothing? But she likes you! Aren't you going to pursue her?"

"No."

"But don't you like her? I mean, she's the type every man would like!"

"How many men are there in this world?" he asked, "A million perhaps? Do you really think a million people would all like the same type of woman?"

Lina felt her building tirade losing its momentum. "For someone who's not the brightest star, that's a rather dazzling observation."

She did not ask the other question weighing on her mind. That if his type wasn't Sylphiel, what was it? But as she relaxed and continued to dance with him, she put the question of why Sylphiel would think that learning the Dragon Slave would be a good way to win Gourry's heart to rest and focused instead on her relief that the Shrine Maiden was not competition.

Gourry had walked her to her room and then left her to go inside to sleep. It was after she had woken and started to brush her hair the next morning that it hit her that Sylphiel had learned it so that she could be more like her! The realization was so startling that Lina had to wonder if she was flattering herself into believing it. Why would Sylphiel, who was beautiful and had large breasts and could cook well and was so polite, soft spoken and demure and all of the other things that men fell over themselves for want to be like her?

The answer simmered at the back of her mind. Lina put an earring on and stood up as she prepared to go down to breakfast. She put the other on and ran her hand through her long, crimson locks and smiled. Gourry would be sitting at the breakfast table. There would be no empty seat this morning. When she got down to the breakfast room, she wasn't surprised to find that she was the last one there. Zelgadis, Amelia and Sylphiel were all talking excitedly about something while Gourry tore into his pancakes.

"Hey, those look good!" she said as she sat down beside him and took a fork and scooped some up.

"No fair!"

"Miss Lina, have you heard?" Amelia asked.

"Heard what?" Lina replied.

"The great tragedy, The Fall of Letidius, is playing at the theater in town!"

"Oh," Lina said, "I've seen it before, actually, with some strange girl I met awhile back. And I'm not in the mood for something so dark right now."

"Well I'm not going to miss my chance to see it!" Amelia said.

"We can stay here for the night if you want." Lina said, "We're not in any hurry."

"I'd like to see it as well." Zelgadis said.

Amelia brightened, "Yay! It will be so much fun! What about you, Miss Sylphiel?"

"I would love to see it. I have heard that it is good."

"And how about you, Mr. Gourry?"

Even though Gourry's response was fairly quick, the fact that there seemed to be a lot hanging on the balance made time seem to slow. "It's a tragedy, right? So that means it has a sad ending, right?"

"That's right. I'm impressed actually." Zelgadis said.

"I'll pass then." The swordsman said, "I like things with happy endings."

Gourry quickly buried his face in his pancakes and likely missed the look that briefly crossed Sylphiel's face, but Lina did not. And that confirmed it. Sylphiel saw herself in competition with Lina because she saw her as a rival for Gourry's affections!

Meaning the hope that Lina had that Gourry did feel the same way for her now had some evidence backing it! Surely Sylphiel was perceptive enough to not be wrong if she thought that Gourry liked her. Lina's heart raced as she realized that she and Gourry would be alone that evening, for the first time since they had saved each other. Annoyingly, since they had returned to Sairaag, they had not had the opportunity to talk, let alone do anything else, without having their friends around and in their business. But that would change tonight.

"We'll go and get three tickets then." Amelia said chipperly. And then she gave them the side eye as she asked, "And what will you two do tonight?"

Lina blushed as she stuttered, "You know us. Since when have we ever made plans?"

"And even if we do make plans, since when do they work?" Gourry added.

"Um-hm." Amelia said knowingly as Sylphiel excused herself.

The day seemed to pass slowly, and Lina kept wishing she could skip to the evening when she would be alone with Gourry. She was determined to be bold and kiss him. There was little doubt in her mind that it would go right. Sylphiel was jealous of her. And Gourry had gone into the Sea of Chaos to get her back. The knowledge that she was young, powerful and beautiful charged through her veins, and now she wanted to explore a different type of magic.

She didn't bother much with her appearance. She didn't want to look like she was putting effort into this. And besides, it wouldn't be good to advertise to her enemies that she had feelings for her protector. No, the more things appeared platonic between them the better.

When the others finally left, Lina wasted little time in going to Gourry's room and knocking on the door. "Hey Lina." He said as he opened it.

"Hey, I have a matter of great importance to discuss with you." She said.

"Come in." he said, "Nothing bad has happened, has it?"

The door closed, and she drew closer to him, "No, we put that behind us. Now we should savor our reward."

She closed her eyes and stood on her toes as she leaned in to kiss him. It was with a jolt that she realized that he had pulled away, and when she opened her eyes she discovered to her horror that he was looking at her in panic.

She turned beat red as she put her feet flat on her floor. "Oh god!" she exclaimed. She had misread him. And now she had just embarrassed herself horribly. "Oh god, forget this happened!"

She was about to turn to flee when he put a hand on her shoulder, "Wait. You just caught me off guard. Look…"

"Everyone gone! Just the two of us! You weren't thinking about something like this?" she yelled as she pounded her fists against his chest.

"Well, you know thinking isn't my strong suit." He replied. "I just follow your lead. And…"

"Except for now!" Lina yelled as she scratched at his shirt.

"Could you stop talking and listen for a moment?" he said.

"Talk then." She said as she folded her arms across her chest.

He took a deep breath, "I want to kiss you. But you're still so young, Lina."

"I'm seventeen!"

"That's still young. And you haven't been seventeen long. And my feelings have come on so strong, and things seem to be moving so fast, too fast considering your age, and I told myself, I can't until you're eighteen. I have to wait. But then something will happen and I don't want to wait. Usually you're mature enough that I don't think about it, but then there are times when it's obvious how young you are and I have to tell myself that I have to respect that. That things have to slow down or I could hurt you."

"It was a kiss, you idiot!" she yelled, "I nearly died saving your ass!"

"Exactly!" he said, "You nearly threw your life away! Do you think I wanted you to do that?"

"Well what should I have done? Let him kill you? It wasn't like I knew what would happen. I wasn't planning to die. I was desperate, and between my power and intentions I figured it would be enough to pull it off! And I did it! Without destroying the world."

"And you nearly lost yourself in the process! You didn't fully understand what you were dealing with then! And who's to say you are now?"

She stared at him for a moment. He sighed, "Sit down." He said as he sat on the bed and patted the mattress beside him.

Cautiously she did, and he put an arm around her. She relaxed a little as she considered that he wasn't rejecting her. He was just telling her what she was and wasn't old enough for. And she wasn't sure that was much better. "I could have died saving you. I'm old enough to slay Hellmaster and Shabranigdo. But you think I'm too young for a kiss?"

"No," he agreed. "But I always have to be careful about doing what I want with you. I just had to think if it would be right to return it or not and not about what I wanted."

Lina's ears perked. "So you wanted to kiss me?"

He shrugged as he looked a bit uneasy. "Yes."

"So how about letting me decide what's right? Rather than you telling me what I'm old enough for!" she argued, "I did save you."

"And I saved you." He replied.

She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could he moved and pressed his lips to hers and snaked his tongue over hers. She recovered from the surprise quickly and pulled him to her. He wrapped his arms around her, placing them low on her waist as he pulled away and touched his forehead to hers. "I love you."

"I love you." She repeated as she drew closer to kiss him again.

As exhilarating as kissing him was, the fact that they were awkwardly twisted as they sat beside each other became more and more difficult to ignore as the time passed, and Gourry fixed it as he drew her onto his lap. It was understood that kissing was as far as they would go that night, and they both remained sitting up as they made out, though she wrapped her legs around his waist. Time seemed to pass quickly, and all too soon they heard the sounds of the others coming down the hallway. Lina sprang off of him as she blushed. "Damn, I planned to be back in my room when they got back!"

He grabbed her hand, "Does it matter? The way Amelia was looking at us they likely thought something like this would happen."

"We can't let people know we're a couple!" Lina insisted, "What if someone tries to take you from me again?"

"We weren't a couple when he took me." Gourry said.

"I'm not risking it." Lina said as she listened for the sounds of doors closing so she could escape into the hallway back into her own room.

"Well, now you understand why I want to be careful, even if it's about different things. How about we take it slow and keep it quiet?"

She softened a bit, and walked over and hugged him. "We can do that. And keep this under wraps."

"I think everyone is in their rooms."

She nodded, and stood on her toes for one more kiss.

"Night, Lina."

"Night, Gourry."

"It was such a good show last night!" Amelia gushed at breakfast. "So dramatic! And such a cautionary tale about justice!"

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Lina said.

Amelia smiled knowingly, "Well, I'm sure that you and Mr. Gourry had plenty of fun here by yourselves."

"What, playing checkers?" Lina asked. "It was a good game."

"Uh-huh." Amelia said.

"I don't know what you're insinuating Amelia." Lina said as she looked at Gourry, and saw that he looked strangely annoyed. She shrugged it off as Sylphiel cleared her throat.

"I'm thinking it's time for me to return home."

"Really?" Lina asked. "You don't want to have more adventures?"

"I think I've had enough adventures." Sylphiel said, "And I'm feeling a bit like an extra wheel."

Lina felt she should protest, but at the same time, Sylphiel was right. "Well, take care then."

"Mr. Zelgadis didn't make you feel unwelcome last night, did he?" Amelia asked.

"No," Sylphiel assured her.

"Where is Zel anyway?" Gourry asked.

"He's still choked up over the Chimera's Lament song and said he couldn't come down." Amelia explained.

"Well, when are you planning on leaving?" Lina asked Sylphiel.

"Today, actually. Once breakfast is over."

It wasn't too long after Sylphiel left the group that Zel and Amelia also went their separate ways, leaving Lina and Gourry to the open road once more. "It's good to see our friends, but I also like it when it's just the two of us." Lina commented as she held his hand.

"I'm not going to complain. Especially since you feel like you have to hide what we're doing with them."

"It's too keep you safe," she insisted.

"It just makes it seem like we're doing something wrong if we have to keep it hidden." He maintained.

"It won't be forever." She said. "Just until I've recovered from this scare."

He squeezed her hand. "Alright then. And lead the way!"

AN: A lighter take on events after NEXT than I did in After NEXT. While rewatching the scene with them by the fire it really struck me how Lina is really trying to draw him into courting her, and this eventually was the result. And those wanting something with a hint of lemon, have no fear. I've got something in the kettle for Valentine's Day.