i've been attempting to dig my way out of veritable homework mountains, but figured i'd better update before someone takes me for dead ;

i know it's short, especially after the last chap, but it's something! thank you once again to my reviewers, and again and again--and again, because it's a belated thanks at best.

Somewhere along the line these evening strolls had become an unspoken routine they shared, and tonight was an especially fine opportunity for Glitch to get around to asking DG that one question burning a hole on the tip of his tongue. It'd been raining on and off for days now, but as he and DG wandered through the garden maze, the wind bit like a sword's steel blade and the sky darkened. Shivering, DG rubbed her arms to keep warm as a gust scattered the errant leaves near her feet, blasting debris through the air.

"Just great," she mumbled dolefully, watching the rain grow heavier, "absolutely splendid." A strong arm wrapped around her waist from behind, and DG leaned into Glitch's chest.

"Chilly?" DG rolled her eyes at the absurd question, but didn't pull away.

"Not in the slightest. As a matter of fact, I happen to enjoy this weather immensely. Nothing like a good, dreary, wet and dismal day—my favorite."

Glitch grinned and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I know what you mean. Isn't it wonderful?" he let DG go and turned dreamy chocolate eyes to the sky, water streaming down his face in rivulets while DG laughed.

"You can keep standing like that all day, but I'm not going to be drenched," she informed him, pushing a sodden lock of hair behind her ear. That said, DG stomped—staggered was more like it, really, her legs were so numb from the cold—past him and made a left, taking the most practical route towards the refuge of the Palace. Why they'd troubled to leave the warm, dry climate of what DG could only describe as the OZ's equivalent of a den, with its roaring, toasty hearth and comfortable couches, was beyond her. Glitch had seemed so anxious to get her alone, and she'd passively agreed, assuming he'd wanted to talk to her without the anxiety of wayward ears eavesdropping. Well, burning questions or no it was frigid and they were both sodden; seeing Glitch still gazing at the sky, DG trudged back to him and valiantly tried persuading the man to move before they both became ill.

"I won't hesitate to forcibly drag you to shelter," she warned with a worried frown, "GLITCH! Am I breaking up here?" Increasingly frustrated by the lack of response, DG jumped up and down in front of him, waving her arms like a deranged windmill trying to get his attention. When all else failed, she attempted to haul him by his lapels.

Abruptly severed from his reverie, Glitch stared at DG in bewilderment—her face was inches from his own, close enough for him to count the dewdrops dotting her lashes like sequins blinking in the light.

"DG?" Glitch's gaze flickered involuntarily to her lips, surroundings fading fast into a vague and hazy blur. Feeling herself inconceivably drawn towards him, as the ground seemed to quake beneath her feet, DG felt a stab of panic. There was a strange roaring in her ears, like the bellow of the wind as she'd rocket down highways on her motorcycle; there were pinpricks of a craving she didn't understand, a voice in her mind blaring incomprehensible things. There was something she wanted, needed—but what? Something evidently so obvious that she knew, she had to know—but what was it? What was the source of these unfamiliar emotions, the antidote to this mystifying malady which left her tossing and turning on so many nights? DG stared at Glitch, feeling instinctively that there was an answer in his dark, topaz eyes.

The palpable charge in the air made any semblance of coherency unattainable, and DG realized balefully that Glitch had almost certainly forgotten his 'urgent' memorandum.

"Goodness, but it's wet out here; let's head back, Deej. What do you think?"

"I won't even bother to answer that," DG replied, feigning offense.

"All right then!" Glitch grabbed her arm and began to plow his way through the maze, creating shortcuts when necessary.

Trying to remove foliage from her hair, DG dug her heels in after the fifth time and refused to shove herself through the bushes. "Why can't you just follow the path instead of forging your way through the shrubbery? Why the hell are you dragging me through the shrubbery? I'm going to walk myself out of this maze while you run through it, and we can meet at the exit."

"Oh, get over yourself. The shortest distance between two points is a line, DG—this is the most expedient route home, and it is raining."

DG spluttered, fuming at that last, and tried to pry his fingers off her elbow.

"Alright, take the circuitous, twisty way out. Apparently there's no way to impress such flawless logic as mine upon your wayward mind, but its okay." his smile wasn't even patronizing, his tone devoid of guile—the man was utterly serious.

"Oh no you don't—Glitch, if you think I'm going to leave you traipsing around in the rain—" Taking his hand, she stomped through the first hedge to block her way, dragging Glitch in her wake. "You'll forget what you're doing here or something, and spend a week wandering around like an idiot, while I drive myself nuts wondering if you're hurt."

Reverse psychology really does work, Glitch murmured to himself, and couldn't suppress a gleeful laugh. DG stopped abruptly and shot him a quizzical glance, wondering what about her comment had been so funny. Doubled over now, Glitch was all but rolling on the ground in a fit of hysteria.

"You're incorrigible," she told him, hands on her hips.

Eventually, though, the infectious laughter won.