"Well, he isn't," Hannah said, wiping her brow with her forearm. "You sure you don't want to take a break?"

"Well, I could go for some lemonade," Nancy replied, making one last swipe with the roller and placing it back in the tray.

The two of them sat down at the bar with a batch of oatmeal cookies and tall glasses of lemonade. Hannah sat, gazing at her living room, which they had nearly finished painting. "What do you think?" she asked.

"Considering I helped you pick almost every color," Nancy teased her, then followed her gaze. "I think it looks excellent. It needs a lot of pale yellow. Maybe tomorrow we could go by that antique store downtown and see if they have anything."

"I want you to feel at home here," Hannah said.

"I do," Nancy replied earnestly. "How could I not, with Dad two seconds away?"

Hannah shrugged. "Maybe that isn't the best thing right now."

Nancy swallowed a bite of oatmeal cookie. "I'm gonna go crazy," she murmured. "Ned and I would get married tomorrow, but it makes no sense."

Hannah nodded. "Because you'll still be at college."

"And he will, and we'll be hours apart, and I don't even have a job yet… and it's unfair and selfish for me to expect him to just come to Wilder and stay with me. There's nothing for him there."

"Except you," Hannah said.

Nancy shook her head. "The timing is wrong," she said, abandoning the cookies. "Not that it would be much better with us graduating at the same time, poor and freshly degree'd, and then getting married."

"So when would you get married? After you made your first million?" Hannah smiled.

Nancy tugged a leg under her. "When I start thinking about it that way, I wonder why not next week."

"He'll be here for dinner, right?"

Nancy nodded. "He should be. Thanks for letting us crash here."

"Anytime." Hannah smiled.

Ned repeated the sentiment, after he had been greeted by Nancy, paint-streaked, with her hair under a bandanna. He let out a low whistle at seeing what Hannah had done with the place. "Nice," he said. "Looks like I don't even have to help paint."

"Yeah you do," Nancy said, shooting him a mock glare. "Or else no dinner. And I think Hannah's making your favorite."

Ned shrugged out of his jacket with exaggerated speed. "Point me in the direction of the paint cans, please, ma'am."

Even though they both praised the dinner enormously, Nancy noticed Ned kept glancing at his watch. Finally he tossed down his napkin after finishing the last bite and said, "Hannah, I'm really sorry, but…"

"You can't be that sorry if you've cleaned your plate." Hannah's eyes were sparkling.

"My cousin is starting pitcher in tonight's game," he said apologetically. "I promised him I'd go, since I'm in town. Nan…?"

Hannah waved her hands in a shooing gesture. "Go, go, you two," she said. "I'll get the dishes."

"Leave at least a few so we can earn our dessert," Nancy said, smiling, as she grabbed her coat.

"Oh, I'll just work you two all day tomorrow on the guest rooms," Hannah replied.

Nancy let Ned drive the Mustang with the top down over to Mapleton. They didn't talk, but her hand stayed in his for most of the trip.

"Ned, you made it!" his aunt said as they found spots in the bleachers near her. "How's college going?"

He shrugged. "Pretty good," he said.

"I saw your last game on ESPN. Bill had it up so loud I'm surprised the entire neighborhood couldn't hear it." She laughed. "Good to see you, Nancy."

"Thanks," Nancy replied. "How's business?"

"Not bad," she said, just as the team took the field.

The three of them settled back to watch the game, ostensibly at least. Nancy half-watched the game, with a good deal of her attention focused on his hand on hers. They had not yet taken that trip together, and she wasn't altogether sure that they would. She had volunteered them both to help out on Hannah's feverish redecoration of the house. Each bedroom would be a different color, once they were done. Every time Nancy came home for a while, her time was split between Iris and Hannah; Iris for marathon shopping sessions while her father was working, Hannah for ideas on color schemes for her new house. Hannah had already hinted that the upstairs sewing room could be made into a nursery, for when Nancy and Ned brought their children over to visit, at some vague future date.

She turned her head to look at him. He was leaning forward, his attention completely centered on the game, watching his cousin. Since both she and Ned had no siblings, his cousin was the closest he had to a brother. More than a few years separated them, though, and especially once Ned's athletic career had started, there was more than a hint of hero worship in their relationship. Sam had every intention of following Ned to Emerson, once he graduated high school.

Nancy was thoughtful during the brief drive back to River Heights, the dessert they shared on the counter in the kitchen. Hannah said goodnight and vanished upstairs with a knowing smile, and Nancy pulled Ned out onto the back porch with her. The night had turned cold, so she huddled into her jacket.

"So your dad's not home." He sat down in the swing on the front porch.

"Nah," she replied. "I didn't know Laurel was pregnant."

Ned shrugged. "Me either," he replied. "I heard from Evan a few weeks ago, so he must not have known, cause he didn't tell me. But my aunt's always been up on the gossip in the family." He smiled.

"Sam's girlfriend is cute," she said. Then she smiled. "Reminds me of us, at that age."

"Yeah." He reached up and tugged her down into the swing. "I don't think she's going to Emerson, though, but kids these days… they don't think past two days ahead."

She leaned against his shoulder, his hand in hers, looking at the manicured lawn. "Maybe one day we'll live in a house like this," she said quietly.

"Maybe," he nodded, leaning down to kiss her softly. "It's a long time from now, though, Nan." He brushed her hair back.

"Not so long," she replied, kissing him back. "Hannah said we can house-sit for her."

"But it won't be ours," he said, pressing his face into the side of her neck so his breath tickled the fine hairs there, and kissed her.

"I'm yours."

He smiled. "Not entirely. Not yet."

They went back inside, sat on the dust cloth covering the couch and plugged the television back in. He wasn't bothered by the smell of wet paint, but Nancy had been inhaling it far longer, and after a little while she placed a hand on his cheek and turned his face to hers.

"I'm going upstairs," she whispered. "Hannah's probably asleep."

"You okay?" he asked softly, brushing her hair back from her face and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"I'll be fine once I get out of this room."

Ned turned the television off and the room was cast into blue-hued darkness as he gathered her in his arms. "All right then," he said. "Which bedroom?"

"Blue one."

Iris had helped Hannah with the two non-master bedrooms upstairs. The one closer to the stairs was done in shades of blue from midnight to pale, and the other in green. Nancy liked the blue one because she had helped paint it.

Ned shouldered open the door and put her down. Nancy sat down on the bed and untied her shoes, kicked them off, then looked up and met his eyes.

"Hey," she murmured.

He took her hands and pulled her up, then folded her into his embrace. "This is going to be our trip, isn't it," he said. "Until the summer, at least."

She leaned back to meet his eyes. "We can make some time."

He shook his head. "Nah," he murmured, his fingertips brushing the nape of her neck. "I'm comfortable with this."

They danced to soundless music, slow and lazy, punctuated by kisses. Their movements were nearly imperceptible by the time he brushed her hair back and pressed his mouth to her ear.

"I love you," he murmured against her mouth.

"I love you too."

--

"Good morning," Hannah said cheerfully over a cup of coffee as Nancy, rubbing at her eyes, walked into the kitchen.

Nancy walked over to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup. "Hi," she replied, her voice rough with sleep. "Biscuits?"

Hannah nodded at the white paper bag on the countertop. "Help yourself," she said. "Ned too, once he wakes up."

Nancy opened her mouth and closed it, and Hannah watched her carefully. "He might be awake by now."

"You two have a late night?"

Nancy smiled. "Kind of," she said, stirring cream and sugar into her coffee. "Watched some TV, mostly."

Hannah nodded, a faint smile on her face. "Okay."

As Hannah knew she would, Nancy opened her biscuit, removed the bacon and ate that separately. Ned came down the stairs; Nancy's head turned so quickly her hair flew, and his eyes were soft when they found those of his fiancée. He smiled a greeting at Hannah and poured himself a cup.

"You two sleep well?"

Ned nodded. "Your guest beds are great."

"Good. Because today I want to get everything finished, the trim, the random missed spot, everything. You two up for it?"

Nancy and Ned exchanged a glance. "Yeah, but I insist we go out tonight," Nancy replied, turning back to Hannah. When Ned walked over to the counter to investigate the biscuits, his arm brushed against Nancy's, and Hannah noticed her response. "I know I'm going to be too tired to cook."

Hannah smiled. "Well, if you insist…"

--

"I'm proud of it. I'd be glad to tell people I helped paint."

Hannah looked between the two of them as they settled down to a seafood dinner later that night. "I'm glad you are, Ned," she said. "And it's all right with me if you two share a bed again tonight."

Nancy stared at Hannah for a moment, then forced herself to swallow. "Are the walls that thin?" she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Hannah arched an eyebrow. "No, but you just answered a question I hadn't asked," she replied. "You two are getting married soon, anyway. Next year?"

"Something like that," Ned said, staring out the window, unable to meet Hannah's eyes.

"Oh, relax, both of you," Hannah said. "I was your age once. And I've always been able to tell when you lie, Nancy."

Nancy smiled. "That's because I don't lie to you that much."

Hannah took a sip of her tea. "I should wait until your father is here to tell you this, but… I really do hope the two of you like the house."

Nancy tilted her head. "It's gorgeous, but it's your house, Hannah. I mean, that garden alone… you love that garden."

"Did you notice what's planted in it?"

Nancy shrugged. "Beautiful things. I feel like I'm in an English rose garden when I go back there."

Hannah nodded her head. "When you two are married that house will be yours."

Ned coughed on his drink. "We can't take the house!"

Hannah tore open a roll and buttered it. "Mr. Drew and I bought that house, with the understanding that it would be a wedding present. And if it's too close to your father, you can sell it with no hard feelings, find another place to live. We've done a lot more work on it than you two know about, and now it's almost finished, and if you two want to go with me tomorrow and find a few last things for it, that would be great."

Nancy and Ned looked at each other for a long moment. When Nancy looked back at Hannah, her eyes were shining. "Hannah, really, we can't…"

"Maybe you two want to live in Chicago," Hannah continued calmly. "And that's fine. You'll have plenty of time to house-sit, get the feel of the place, see if you even like it. That's why I wanted Nancy to help me pick colors," she said. "I think it's a gorgeous house no matter what the two of you do with it."

"It is," Nancy replied.

--

"You were going to ask me something at dinner," Hannah said, sitting down in one of the chairs out of the garden.

Nancy ran her fingertip over one of the flowers, then sat down and stayed silent for a few minutes. "You and Dad will give us this place on the condition that we get married after graduation, won't you," she finally said.

Hannah shrugged. "In our talking about it he never placed any conditions on it," she replied. "I think he wanted to tell you two over a nice dinner or something, once you two had set a date, or maybe even at the reception, but he never said 'only if those two fools wait until they're out of college.'"

Nancy leaned back, looking over the house with new eyes. "It is beautiful," she said quietly. "It's a fantastic present. Better than anything I could have hoped for." She leaned over and gave Hannah a hug.

"So you two…?" Hannah asked.

Nancy blushed. "We're being good," she said.

"Good, cause I can't hear a darn thing through the walls, and I was pretty sure you wouldn't lie to me when you hadn't even messed up the covers on the other bed," Hannah replied. "Your engagement might be another two years?"

Nancy sighed. "I don't want it to be, but I don't really see any way around it," she said.

"Good thing you're on the pill," Hannah replied.

After the chill settled in the air the two of them went back inside, and Nancy walked around the downstairs, touching the furniture, a curious stillness in her. She opened the door of the blue bedroom and saw Ned on his stomach, shirt off, smiling at her.

"Hey."

"Hey," Nancy said, unbuttoning her skirt and stepping out of it, pulling her shirt off. "You look like a guy who wants another massage."

She straddled his waist and stroked his back, but as her attention wandered her touch grew lighter until she was barely trailing her fingers over his skin. He turned over and gazed up at her, and after a moment she looked down at him and smiled.

"Come here," he murmured, her legs still bent at his waist as he reached for her. She kissed him soundly, her hair falling like a curtain over their faces.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked when she pulled back, his fingertips tracing the lines of her face.

She kissed his palm. "Us," she murmured. "In this house."

He closed his eyes. "It even has that white picket fence you were talking about."

She ran her fingers through his hair. "Would you want to keep it?" she asked softly.

"It's not just me who has to decide this," he said. "I thought you wanted me to come live nearby while you were at Wilder."

She lifted herself off him and stretched out on her side, and he rolled over to pull her back into his embrace. "Yeah, but that was before I knew about this place."

"Would that change anything?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Maybe Hannah can just live here until we're both out of school," he murmured, kissing her softly.

Nancy closed her eyes. "How the hell do you expect me to think right now," she murmured.

--

At church the next morning Nancy could have sworn everyone was looking at her.

She knew it was a false feeling, that absolutely no one knew except maybe Hannah, but everything, the hymns, the pastor's sermon, seemed directed at the two of them. The paranoia was laced with recollections of the night before, but her only shame was in feeling no shame about what she, they, had done.

Ned had opted out of the antiquing and had promised to meet Nancy for dinner, after he spent a few hours with his parents. So Hannah and Nancy walked in, gazing at tarnished picture frames and dusty, sad furniture, looking for anything that might go well in the house.

But Nancy found herself in front of a stack of vinyl records, flipping through, not seeing the names. Hannah tapped her on the shoulder.

"Maybe we should try somewhere else," she said. "Not that you're even here right now."

With an effort Nancy smiled. "Maybe in the next shopping center," she replied.

The two of them walked over in the bright still afternoon sunshine. "You okay?" Hannah asked. "Did you two have a fight or something?"

"No," Nancy sighed. "We'll be fine. It's all just a bit much, and I was thinking that Ned would be near me after he graduates, but if he's living here…"

"All depends on when you get married," Hannah said. "And if you two wait too long, I might just build an extension onto the house and stay there. Make sure the garden is kept properly."

Nancy smiled. "Plenty of backyard to do that," she said.

--

"If the two of you want it," Iris said. "The house was a steal. And after everything we've done to it, if you want to sell it, you'd have a nice nest egg to start your lives on."

Nancy and Ned exchanged glances. "Can you give us a while to think about it?" Ned asked. "I mean, we've been thinking of it as Hannah's house…"

"It's too big for me," Hannah said matter-of-factly. "To be honest. I'd be more than happy with an extension off the back, to sit in the rose garden in the afternoons."

Nancy looked over at her father, who was seated in his favorite recliner, his stockinged feet propped up; Iris was lounging in the one next to it, the one Nancy had spent many a Saturday morning in. Nancy was on the loveseat with Ned, and Hannah in her own chair.

Her family, all together, in the room.

"What if we're not married until two years from now?" Nancy asked. "What then?"

Carson glanced over at Hannah. "That'll give us plenty of time to build Hannah's extension, and maybe put in a few more things you two might like."

"And if we decide that we'd like something in Chicago?"

Iris and Carson looked at each other. "Then we sell the house for you and give you the money from it to do that."

"But the house isn't ours until we're married."

Carson's face was carefully composed. "Right. And since one or both of you will be in college until that happens, I don't really see it as a problem."

"Both of us," Ned mused, after he and Nancy had excused themselves and said their goodbyes. "Maybe he does halfway expect us to run away one weekend."

"I don't think so," Nancy said, reaching up to put her arms around his neck, her eyes closed as she leaned against him. "He's a lawyer. Covering all the bases."

"Right now, maybe?" Ned slipped his arms around her waist and held her close to him.

She smiled against his neck. "Maybe if you'd asked at the beginning of the weekend, but now…"

"No, then?"

She kissed him and pulled back. "Sometimes I think about calling your bluffs, but I don't ever do it," she murmured. "I don't feel a bit of guilt over what we did this weekend."

He smiled. "Yeah, but it's not as right as it could be."

"It's a scary thought," she admitted, her head down, voice muffled by the collar of her jacket. Then she tilted her face back and peered into his eyes. "And yet it feels like the most natural thing in the world when I'm with you."

"Yeah," he replied, leaning forward to kiss her softly. "I'm going to miss you."

"When will I see you again?" she breathed, tilting her head and kissing him back.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'll call you."

"Okay," she murmured, kissing him again, loathe to let him go. "I can't wait until we sign that piece of paper, until I don't have to say no anymore…"

He pulled back. "You know I love you, right?"

She stared back into his eyes. "I know. And I love you."

He sighed. "I really don't want to go," he said. He glanced over his shoulder at the house Hannah kept for them, silent in the cooling air. "One day we won't have to leave anymore."

She smiled. "We won't have to," she repeated. "But I don't know if that house is big enough to hold the two of us."

--

"You and Ned missed the party of the year." Bess put her tray on the table with a click, then maneuvered into her chair. "You were with him this weekend, right?"

"Of course," Nancy smiled, forking her salad by the dim cafeteria lights. "We stayed over at Hannah's… which, by the way, is going to be a wedding present."

"Hannah's going to be a wedding present?" Bess lifted a forkful of rice to her mouth, an inquisitive and impeccably tweezed eyebrow raised aloft.

"No, no. The house. The one I've been helping paint forever."

Bess's eyes widened. "Wow. So, did you two stay… together?"

The corner of Nancy's mouth lifted. "Yeah," she admitted.

"So no more of that ridiculous separate-beds thing."

"I don't know," Nancy said, taking a sip of water. "I mean, things got pretty… serious. Serious to if I were going to see him again soon, I'd get on the pill if I weren't already."

"Did you…" Bess raised her eyebrows.

"No," Nancy sighed. "And it's scary how little I care, and how little it would take to convince me."

"I know how that is," Bess replied wistfully. "And after that first time, there is like absolutely no resistance."

"And if we did… it's not like we're going to break up. But it's not like we're married yet, either."

Bess shrugged. "And this time last year you were all hung up over Jake."

--

"Nancy."

Nancy looked up to see Jackie leaning into her cubicle, her dark hair swinging over her shoulder. "You working on deadline?"

Nancy smirked. "You should know." She saved her document. "What's up?"

"I know you're so far above this and it's beneath you and your dignity will be injured by my even suggesting it, but I think you could do really well with this piece…"

"Spill it, Jackie."

"The business conference coming up."

Nancy groaned. "You're right. This is beneath me."

"Ten or twelve inches and a picture. A little summary and maybe a profile of one of the attendees. Who can rhapsodize brilliantly on the native wonder of Wilder and how its facilities are more than adequate for such functions to be held in the future. Or how they are barely passable, depending on what else I'm running that week."

Nancy laughed. "Some sort of quasi-human interest story?"

"I'm not interested in the human, unless it's some cute guy offering graduate level scholarships." Jackie curved her burgundy lips in a smile. "It's a skate."

"All right," Nancy said grudgingly. "I'll do it. But just this once. And you have to give me a front-page story next issue."

"Thanks," Jackie called over her shoulder as she walked back to her office.

--

"Bess is where exactly?" George asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"I'm not really sure," Nancy responded, waiting for a spoonful of soup to cool before she sipped it. "I think it involved a rehearsal and then some crazy party up in town. For cast members only. She said she'd take pictures."

George laughed. "I'm sure those won't be fit to print."

The two girls were seated in a café near campus, catching a late lunch before Nancy attended her sole afternoon class and George headed off to her tennis tutoring lessons.

"So is Genevieve going to be ready for a competition by the time classes end?" Nancy asked.

George shrugged. "I think so," she said. "Ginny has improved a lot but I've gone to games with her, and some of those girls are ruthless."

Nancy looked down into the reflective surface of her bowl. "It's been a while since I've played tennis."

"We should go play doubles against her and her sister. Just don't try to play like Teresa and we'll be fine."

Nancy laughed. "Trust me, I may love her style but I hope I never have to use it again."

"You going up to see Ned this weekend?"

Nancy put down her soup spoon and stretched. "Nope," she admitted, her arms upraised. She sighed and lowered them. "He has a game, and I have to cover that stupid conference. Maybe if I get up early Saturday morning and get the interview done, you and I could do something."

George smiled. "Well, I have been dying to try the new Japanese restaurant that opened a few weeks ago."

"Sounds like a date." Nancy smiled. "If Bess can pull herself away from the drama people for a few hours, maybe we could drag her along too. As long as their menu is not sushi-based."

"Oh, she loves a good California roll," George replied.

--

Nancy made sure her press badge was visible as she and Bess climbed the steps to the library.

Bess yawned. "It's a terrible time to be awake," she grumbled.

"Yeah, noon is kinda early," Nancy teased her friend. "But maybe there are some cute successful guys here."

Bess rubbed her eyes. "I doubt it," she said. "Any guy I'd be interested in wouldn't be at a course to find out how to get ahead, he'd already be ahead. And in bed right now. Like me."

Nancy held open the door. "Well, maybe they'll have snacks or something, then. Since you don't think you'll find the love of your life here."

Bess plucked a leftover donut off a table and held it in a napkin. "This might not be so bad after all," she said, taking a bite. "Bet the coffee sucks. Hey, that's Sharon." Bess pointed.

"Who?"

"Sharon Kenney. She was a senior who graduated back December of our freshman year. I remember her because she was in my intro drama seminar." Bess took another bite. "Wonder what she's doing here."

Sharon was dressed in a blue tweed suit and carried a leather briefcase. She looked a little ill at ease in the main lobby of the library's new wing.

"Hmm," Nancy said, intrigued. Bess obediently trailed behind her as Nancy approached the girl. "Hey," she greeted her. "I'm with the paper. You're an alum?"

Sharon nodded. "Yeah. I graduated not too long ago." She glanced over at Bess, who finished her donut, wiped her hand on a napkin, and extended it.

"Bess Marvin. We had drama seminar together."

Sharon laughed nervously. "Yeah, all that was a blur. Trying to get all my credits in before I graduated."

"So what brings you back to Wilder?"

The woman gestured at her outfit. "The obvious. And nostalgia, I guess."

"What do you think about the new wing of the library? It wasn't finished when you were here, was it?"

After a few more questions Sharon glanced at her watch and explained that she had to make it to her next session, but agreed to meet Nancy a bit later in case she had some follow-up questions. Nancy agreed and caught up with Bess, who was flipping through a glossy brochure she'd snagged.

"'How Maui Can Boost Your Sales,'" Bess read, then wrinkled her nose. "More like how Maui can boost your sex life."

Nancy laughed. "I'm going to head back to my room to write this up, so I don't have to do it tomorrow. Do you want to meet me back here at five? I can ask Sharon a few last questions if I need them, and we can head to the restaurant from here."

Bess bobbed her head in agreement and threw the brochure into a trash can as they passed. "Maybe I can get a few more hours' sleep," she wondered aloud.

But Bess didn't turn up at five. Once they found each other again Nancy finished asking Sharon her questions and made note of the answers, all the while unobtrusively glancing at her watch. She could feel someone's eyes on her, but the lobby was full of people laughing and making dinner plans as they left their last meetings, and Nancy couldn't spot anyone overtly staring.

"Thanks, you've been a great help," Nancy said, shaking Sharon's hand. She turned, wondering where Bess could possibly be, and had resolved to call her, when the crowd parted.

A guy with curly blond hair and green eyes was staring at her.

Her heart seemed to stop beating, even before she had recognized him. The din of the room rose to nearly intolerable levels, but she felt like she was underwater, everything distorted by his unexpected apperance.

"Hey gorgeous," he said, his grin dazzling white against his tanned skin.

"Hey Mick," she replied weakly.

"Been a while," he said, opening his arms. "Don't tell me you're here to learn how to build a better infrastructure."

Nancy allowed him to draw her into his embrace. "No," she said, her voice barely audible, then cleared her throat. "No, I'm not here to learn about that. What are you doing here? Last time I saw you was…"

"Japan," he finished, then shrugged. "I'm a bit of a wanderer," he said, his Australian accent lending a lilt to his voice. His gaze pierced her with almost embarrassing scruitiny. "But I never expected this trip to be so fruitful…"

She took a step back. "How long will you be here?"

He shrugged, his gaze still on hers. "Not sure, now. Maybe quite a while, Detective."

"Nancy!"

The steady warning of her heart throbbed in her ears as she turned in response to Bess's shout. The throng still had not dispersed, and Bess was shouldering her way between groups of laughing men and women in business suits, through the thick haze surrounding Nancy.

Behind her was another guy in business casual.

The three of them stood staring at each other for a moment, and Nancy felt a flush begin to creep up her cheeks. Bess's eyes were wide and alarmed. Ned's eyes were laughing, but when he saw her, saw how close she was standing to Mick, she saw something shutter between them.

"I thought I'd surprise you," Ned said, his glance in Mick's direction so quick she almost missed it. "The game was postponed and I get extra credit if I write a paper about one of these deadly dull meetings."

"Oh," Nancy said, her voice overloud. "That's great!"

"Hey Bess," Mick said, extending a hand. "Still the maneater?"

"You know it," Bess returned, smiling, and shook his hand. "What are you doing here?"

Mick gestured expansively. "Here for the conference."

Nancy finally couldn't bear the weight of Ned's gaze any longer. "Ned, this is Mick Devlin. Mick, this is Ned Nickerson. Mick and I met while I was on a case," she explained, watching the two of them shake hands.

"So you're dating this little vixen?" Mick said to Ned, nodding at Bess.

"Actually, I've managed to resist her wiles and stay with the charming redhead to your right," Ned said, nodding at Nancy. "You don't sound like you're from around here. Did you two meet when Nancy was investigating that case in Australia with Frank and Joe?"

Mick glanced in Nancy's direction before answering, and Nancy felt the temperature in the room drop another degree. She glanced down at her watch. "Oh boy, look at the time, Bess and I are late to go meet George for dinner."

"I'm starved," Mick announced. "Dare I ask where you might be going?"

"Japanese," Bess piped up, then glanced between the three of them. "At least, I thought…"

Nancy met and held Ned's gaze, silently pleading for him to play along. "You hungry too, Ned? It's supposed to be a decent place."

"Yeah," he replied finally, a guarded look on his face. "I could go for some sushi."

--

Bess, sensing Nancy's unease, had kept Mick occupied with a line of engaging chatter, asking him what he was doing, what he planned to be doing, whether he'd managed to snag a girlfriend. But no matter how fast the words tumbled out of Bess's mouth, Mick still found the time to gaze across the table in Nancy's direction, making her blush.

Nancy knew Ned was seeing it. He shifted uncomfortably next to her. "George, you recommend anything?"

George shrugged. "None of us have been here before," she admitted. "Maybe the waiter…"

"Order me a water," Nancy said to no one in particular, then escaped to the bathroom. As she was splashing water on her face for the fifth time, she heard the door open and close.

"I didn't know this was date night," George said, bending over the sink next to Nancy. "When I saw you guys pull up, I made a phone call, though, so it'll be okay."

"George, I'm sorry," Nancy murmured. "I thought it was going to be girls' night out too."

"You didn't invite Ned?"

"He showed up to surprise me," Nancy said, chuckling sardonically. "As for Mick…"

"Yeah, that kind of blew me away." George ripped off a sheet of paper towel and dried her hands. "He was the last person I expected to see with you."

"It just…" Nancy gestured helplessly. "I don't even want to know what they're probably talking about."

When they returned to the table George's cell phone rang. "Hello… Yeah, we're still here… Later when?… Which club?"

When Bess heard the name she clapped with glee. "That place is excellent. We should totally go."

Nancy forced herself not to think about anything else as she caught Ned's glance. He shrugged slightly.

"After being in that board room all day it would be nice to go relax," Mick commented. He glanced at Ned. "I'm sure you agree."

"Relaxing sounds like a great idea."

--

"This was the worst idea ever," Nancy said two hours later.

Bess glanced over her shoulder at their table, where Ned and Mick were still seated. "Well, I think the last thing those two need to be doing is putting their heads together," she agreed, still dancing. "I'll sacrifice myself and dance with Mick for a while."

"Thanks," Nancy sighed, gesturing for George to follow them back to the table.

Scott was smiling widely. "I was just telling Ned that he should come here for his bachelor party," he said. "If that's okay with you, Nancy."

Nancy couldn't stop herself from finding Mick's eyes. "I don't have a problem with it," she heard herself say. "But I think we should dance." Forcing her gaze from green eyes to brown, she extended a hand.

She and Ned found a relatively unoccupied space on the floor and started dancing. Ned's manner was markedly subdued, and when he touched her, his fingers were light over her skin.

"Please say something," she begged.

Ned shrugged. "I'm not going to say anything."

She looked down. "Usually you'd be all over me right now."

He nodded. "Usually I would," he agreed. "Maybe surprising you is a bad idea."

Her startled gaze rose to his. "It wasn't… it was perfectly okay for you to surprise me the way you did. Totally. There was nothing going on."

He chuckled. "Maybe I'm wrong. I didn't think you hugged every guy you met while on a case. But then, I haven't been there for all of them. Not by a long shot."

"Ned…"

He nodded over at the table. "Mick's really putting the beer away," he said.

"Have you had anything to drink?"

"I don't think that would be a good idea right now."

Nancy sighed. She heard Bess saying something to Mick, but her voice was far away. "Yeah, but it would make it easier to tell you this."

The song ended and Nancy and Ned stood motionless, looking at each other. Just then Mick approached them, Bess still tugging on his arm.

"Why—Nancy, why would you be with him and not me?" Mick asked, his face flushed. "What does this overmuscled pompous prig have going for him that you would say yes to him and not to me?"

All the color drained from Ned's face, before Nancy's eyes.

"Do you not remember those nights we spent together in Greece? In Rome? How well we worked together? In Japan, even, when you almost fell into that bonfire—"

Ned said something incoherent, and Nancy was speechless so she tried to beg Mick with her gaze to stop.

"Don't give me that look," Mick said angrily. "I loved you then, and I saw it in your eyes—"

Nancy glanced over, afraid of what she would see, but Ned was gone. She let out a cry of frustration and pressed through the crowd, looking for him, and when Mick grabbed her hand she tried to shake it off.

"Talk to me," Mick demanded.

Nancy stopped so suddenly that he nearly ran into her. He stopped so close she could smell the beer on his breath. "I love him," she said, tears rising in her eyes. "And what you just did…"

Mick threw his head back and started laughing, and the sound was bitter. "You didn't tell him about us."

"There was no us!" Nancy shouted. "You and I were never a unit! We were not together! I could not marry you, I wouldn't marry you, and you just hurt the only guy I've ever loved."

"You hurt him," Mick corrected her, dropping her hand. "And me."

Nancy launched herself through the doors of the club. Once her eyes had adjusted, she saw Ned with his hand on the door of a cab, about to climb in.

"Ned," she called out, stopping a few steps from him, tears sliding down her cheeks. "Please."

Ned looked down. "I can't talk to you right now."

She gasped in a breath. "Then just listen."

He shook his head and took a step closer to the cab. "Can't do that either."

"In or out, buddy," the cabbie said.

He finally met Nancy's eyes, and the pain in them made her heart sink. "In or out," he repeated softly, then laughed to himself. She watched him bend over and get into the cab with disbelieving eyes.

"No!" she cried, darting forward to wedge herself between the body of the cab and the door. "Ned, I have to talk to you."

He took her hand and stared at the ring he had given her. "Did he offer you one like this?" Ned said, his voice shaking.

Nancy shook her head. "No, he didn't," she said. "He could never."

"In or out," the cabbie repeated, sounding impatient.

Ned moved over. "Get in," he said, resigned.

--

The sleepy denizens of the Wilder Times office barely moved as Nancy led Ned through the room, without touching him. She had to keep glancing over her should to make sure he was still following. He hadn't said a word to her since she had climbed into the cab, hadn't touched her, had barely looked at her.

She walked through to the break room, which harbored the aroma of many pots of mediocre coffee, and opened the supply closet. She gripped the rope hanging from the ceiling and pulled down a ladder, then climbed up. Ned, after a baleful look, followed.

They emerged onto the roof. Nancy walked slowly over to a set of folding chairs and lowered herself into one, watching him carefully. Five full minutes passed, with Nancy watching the hard line of his jaw, and finding herself unable to find a voice, a way to explain. Finally Ned bent forward, resting his elbows on his thighs, his fingers interlaced.

"He proposed to you," Ned said in a deceptively steady voice.

Nancy took a deep breath and wiped her wet face. "It was a long time ago."

"Nancy, you haven't been old enough to be asked the question that long."

She shrugged. "The summer I spent in Europe."

"Ahh, yes," he said.

Nancy met his eyes. "You said I was different then."

"I didn't know how different," he said, venom in his tone.

She shook her head. "It's not what you think," she said. "I didn't go over there expecting to meet anyone. You know that. You knew that then. Hell, Bess and George half-called him my stalker. He followed us everywhere that summer. And he was fun to be around, and cute, and he had an accent, and…"

Ned waved his hand. "Whatever."

She rubbed her forehead. "I was attracted to him," she admitted. "For all those reasons. I did feel something for him. But it didn't even approach what I feel, what I felt for you then."

"What about those nights he said you spent together?" Ned asked.

She shrugged. "They were the same kind of nights you and I used to spend together. Having dinner, taking a stroll by moonlight… going back to separate rooms. He and I were never… physical that way."

Nancy saw the vein pulsing in his temple. "Right."

"You know what?" she said suddenly. "I don't even care if you believe me, because it's the truth. It is. I was closer to Peter and Jake than to Mick, ever. Physically. But you remember how it was when you and I were together and I was on a case, and we were chasing down leads, and…"

Ned stood up, his manner agitated. "I don't remember this happening," he spat. "I know sometimes we dated other people. Dated. Not… God, Nancy, he proposed!"

"So did you," she said quietly, holding herself still with an effort, afraid of the tension she could read on his skin. "If you remember. At a time when neither one of us were ready to be married."

"It's the thought that counts."

"He'd never met anyone like me," she said. "You've never met anyone like me."

"If you could do this, you are the most common, the most despicable…"

She stood up. "It's not like I led him on, Ned!"

He ran his hand through his hair. "I remember," he said, "how you are when you are on cases. How you and Frank were in the mountains that one time working on a case and were—" he snorted— "trapped in a cabin, and things happened. I know how you can excuse what you do to me."

"Did!" she corrected him, fresh tears falling over her cheeks. "That's who I was, not who I am!"

"You expect me to believe that you've changed?"

"You said you did!" she cried.

"Then why didn't you tell me about Mick?" he asked. "If it was such ancient history, if everything between you two was so innocent, why did you hide this from me?"

"Because it made me question everything," she said, falling back into her chair. "My… relationship with Mick, and then coming back to you, and everything was so strained between us. I'd never, never… like you said, we dated other people. But that entire time my heart belonged to you. Mick… made me think that maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Ned asked, despite himself.

"I can't do this," she whispered.

"Made you question this the same way you are right now?"

She brushed tears from her face with the side of her hand. "I have no doubts," she told him in a low, level voice. "I have not regretted for a single second getting back together with you."

"But…" Ned threw his hands. "I don't know who you were, now. We were so happy then. I thought there wasn't a single thing that could have come between us, before you came here."

"You know who I am."

"I know I thought you would never lie to me. Not about that." He sat down and put his face in his hands.

She watched him for a long moment, sniffing. "You're right," she said finally. "I don't know how I can expect you to forgive me for this."

He uncovered his face and looked at her, but didn't say anything.

"I should have told you immediately. No, really, I should never have let anything happen between me and Mick. I was so sure... we had dated other people before, I thought I could handle it. That it was a casual flirtation." She snickered. "I was as surprised as you were when he asked me."

"Did you think about it?"

She shrugged. "He'd been following me around like a puppy for two months. The attention was flattering. But I didn't know him at all."

He looked away from her. "We were in San Fransisco. After…" he waved his hand vaguely. "Amanda kissed me and you went ballistic. I asked you if it bothered you and you said no. Did you halfway hope that I'd fall for her the way you did for him?"

"It bugged the hell out of me," she admitted. "I spent the first part of that trip wondering if you and I should stay together, after the summer we spent apart. But then… Amanda, and you were with her all the time, and she was flirting with you, and she was gorgeous and she wanted you and I was like nothing compared to that."

"Who did I come back to every night?" he asked her quietly.

She looked down. "I don't want anyone else to have you," she replied. "But…"

"But you're allowed to be with whoever you want to be. We agreed that. We knew it. We knew being apart would be difficult and that there would be other people. Other girls. Denise," he said, watching her face carefully.

Her eyes were blazing as they met his. "I hate her," Nancy spat.

"I thought you two were getting along pretty well after she was kidnapped."

"That was before you two—" she began, then bit her words off.

"At the dance," he continued. "And over Spring Break. I saw the look on your face."

She shook her head, frustrated. "I'm fine with her. I was. As long as she stayed the hell away from you. She said she would."

"She's at Emerson and you're not."

"That gives you the right--!"

"He was there when I wasn't," Ned replied. "In Greece by moonlight."

Nancy took a few deep breaths, then let out a staccato burst of laughter. "We should have sex," she said.

"Pardon?"

"You and me. Right now."

"We haven't even made up yet."

She looked up at him. "He's never had me that way," she said. "No one else has ever had me that way. No one else has me the way you do. And this… if you knew how much I want to be with you, how no one else has turned my head since you came back into my life…"

"You dated Jake after you started seeing me again."

She gave a low chuckle. "I knew that bugged you."

"Then why did you do it?"

She shrugged. "You weren't my boyfriend. For all I knew it wouldn't work. Jake and I may have had problems... of course, that was before I knew that he would sell me out to advance himself." She shook her head. "There was nothing in it for me, with him. Not after you."

He brought his palms down on his knees, hard. "I hate the way you can do this," he said.

"Do what?"

"Every one of them you told me about ate me alive. That damn prep school captain or whatever he was. The reporter, the cop…" he gestured broadly. "Is Mick the only one I didn't know about?"

She nodded. "Like I said…"

"Ancient history," he completed. "Every time you told me, I thought, she's not ready to commit to me. I know I'm not ready to commit to her. So we would go off and do it again. Other pretty girls."

"Don't say it like it was payback. Like you weren't thinking about it too."

He shrugged. "You were the only one I loved," he said quietly. "But he loved you too. He saw… he saw the things inside you that make you who you are, and he wanted them the same way I did. You let him in. Nan, guys don't… guys don't put themselves on the line like that for no reason. He thought there was a chance you would say yes."

She tilted her head, staring at the ground. "Maybe," she mumbled.

"Not maybe."

She met his eyes. "Every time, we got back together," she said. "The two times we've broken up, it wasn't to be with other people. It was the distance. And…"

"Mike," he finished for her. "And every girl just made me realize that you were the only one."

"That's why I didn't say yes to Mick," she said. "I've met so many people, so many fascinating people… and not one of them has changed the way I felt about you."

"But you've felt things for them."

She propped her chin on her twined fingers. "I'm human," she said. "But I've put that behind me. You're the only one in my sights now." She shifted her hand so the diamond sparkled. "I never belonged to you before the way I do, with this."

He shook his head. "You don't belong to me."

She stood. "Say it any way you like," she replied. "We are betrothed, engaged, promised, you are the one and I finally decided I can admit it. I haven't deprived myself of a damn thing, a single experience, and in the end I figured out that other people could turn my head, but no one else could turn my heart."

"Pretty words," he replied. "You loved Jake."

She snorted. "You know what?" she said. "Jake loved Jake. Jake loved having me as a catch, having me on his arm. But I didn't know that, I didn't know his self confidence was really arrogance, or at least for a little while I told myself it wasn't." She shrugged. "I had feelings for him. But I never saw him in a cute little house with a picket fence around it. He and I were never in that kind of relationship."

"Neither were you and I," he said, watching her as she approached him. "Not until Christmas."

"The timing was right," she said. "I'm tired of taste testing. I'm sick of looking elsewhere only to find that I've been wasting my time. Because the one person I could ever imagine being in that little house, in Hannah's house, with me is sitting right in front of me."

He chuckled. "You mean waiting at home while you track down some story."

She put her hands on his. "Nothing is as important to me as my relationship with you," she said calmly, then met his eyes. "I'm sorry for taking you for granted. But I know now that you would be waiting."

"Yeah," he admitted grudgingly, then looked down at her hands. "I would."

"Are you ready to know what it's like to be the center of my undivided attention for the first time?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Is this going to involve us wearing less clothes?"

She pulled him up out of his chair and he looked down at her. "You're the only one I've offered my virginity to," she told him softly. "With them," she shrugged, "it was just things getting out of hand, and I never actually wanted…" she shuddered. "I just want you to know that."

"So if, right now…?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think you would," she said thoughtfully. "It's a conditional offer. I may want it right now but I also know there are a thousand good reasons to wait."

"You take me for granted," he said, leaning down to brush his lips over her cheek. "You depend on me to be good even when you can't, when you don't want to be."

She closed her eyes. "We could still break."

He shrugged. "You're right," he said. "I almost asked you to give me the ring back tonight."

Her eyes flew open. "You would have?"

He smiled faintly. "I think it's a one time only thing," he said. "I think if you had betrayed me then I could never have put that ring on some other girl's finger. Not after it had been on yours."

"No secrets."

"You've said that before," he said thoughtfully.

The two of them had been swaying together faintly. He stopped and drew back from her, pushed back a lock of her hair.

"I have a potion," he began.

Her brow furrowed in momentary confusion, then she grinned. "Will you trust it?"

"Oh yes," he said, traced his palms over her face, then kissed his fingertips and pressed them to her mouth. "I will trust this," he said. "I will trust what you told me tonight is the truth. No more secrets. No more exfiancees or romantic trysts or guys you've sworn to bear children for."

She shook her head, her eyes glowing. "Nope," she said.

"No one to stand up in the church and object that there is any reason we should not be joined."

"On my side or yours."

"On my side or yours," he repeated. He leaned down and kissed her. "It's the home stretch," he said. "All the other competitors have peeled away. It's just us right now."

"Do you forgive me?" She searched his eyes.

He sighed. "I felt my heart break a little bit tonight," he murmured. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"I won't," she promised.

"Because next time, Nancy…"

"I won't."

"Ancient history," he said, and Nancy breathed a sigh of relief. "Our debts are paid again."

She rested her palms on his cheeks and leaned in to kiss his mouth. "Thank you," she breathed.

They walked, hand in hand, back through the soft hum of computers and drowsy students, out into the night, together.