*He saw her trembling. He couldn't stand it. He got up and put his arms around her. He hated seeing her in pain, he wanted so badly to take it away. He pulled back and looked at her. It did not know what he would do without her. She was more then a girlfriend, she was his best friend. He was so upset about what Kate and Josh had done. But he would be even more upset if he lost her.*

"Kate... I care about you so much... but I have to know... Josh or me?"

*He held his heart out in his hands to her. All he could do was hope that she did not break it anymore then it was. He waited for her answer pain in his eyes.*

Feeling Amos' arms around her, Kate sighed heavily and instictively wrapped her own arms around him, pulling herself as close to him as she possibly could. She nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck and inhaled deeply -- silly as it sounds she wasn't sure if it was a cologne he had on or not, but he smelled wonderful. Calming and relaxing.

She felt him pull away from her and stared into his eyes. Eyes that showed saddness, betrayal, and pain. It made her want to cry -- she knew that when if she chose Amos -- she felt she was making the decision to forget about her and Josh and whatever hope of a future they might possibly have. Though Josh seems to think otherwise, Kate knew where his feelings stood and they weren't about to change. As horrible as it sounds, she felt releived that he was no longer with Tuesday -- She'd rather see him with anyone else besides Tuesday.

So would she be able to accept if completely? Accept the fact that her and Josh were going to friends. Good friends. Best friends. He would move on and probably date other girls -- and she would stay with Amos.

Her eyes searched his and a single tear finally traced her cheek. "I want you, Amos," she said quietly. "You've done nothing but care for me in a way I thought was never possible. You see me for who I am -- including my rediculous flaws -- and you're feelings never change."

Her hand reached up to touch the soft skin of his face. "I want you -- and only you."

It falls on the scale of your crying." he said with a smirk. " Well every time i see you i will be sure to comment about how pretty you look. Since you feed off it and all."he said and then nodded,"Yeah i think she does." he said to her with a smile.

Becky looked back at him a blushed slightly "thanks for everything Josh...really. I really appreciate knowing that I have a superman" she smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek then looked out over the lake "just don't forget that your superwoman has always got your back too."

Josh gave her a smile." No promblem. Its what im here for."he told her as he then laughed at her comment." Thats always good to hear i have a back up. Back up is always good. Just in case i get strangled by another girl.. you'll be there. Awsome." he said as he then asked," So what are your plans to be when you grow up?"

Becky laughed "well what if it was me doing the strangling?" She looked at him questioningly then giggled "hypothetically of course because i would never strangle my superman" She thought for a moment and turned to look at him "I have no idea. And I'm running out of time to decide. I don't know what to do. I could work for the ministry i guess although I'd rather not. I dunno. What about you?"

josh looked liked he had just seen a ghost. " What?" he said as she said she was going to do the strangling." Not another one... " he said but then smiling at her. ' Better be hypothetically. I didnt deserve the first strangling and certainly havent done anything yet to deserve the second one." he said then listening to her." Yeah i dont know either. I thought i wanted to an auror you know. I want to help people. Help protect them... but now im not so sure thats what i want anymore. Ministry of magic isnt my personal favorite either. I was thinking maybe a teacher. I Dont know. just looking around."

"i don't know either. I'm just going to go with the flow." Becky looked at him smiling but looking a little hurt "you didn't really believe I would strangle you did you? You're my friend, and I would never do anything to hurt a friend. Besides you are invincible. You're Superman. Man of Steel. Leaps tall buildings in a single bound. The charming, handsome, muscular, yet semi-nerdy Clark Kent who has just come out of the phone booth...in tights" She giggled smiling brightly at him "i'm Lois Lane to your Clark Kent...minus the dating bit" she blushed again but maintained her smile. "you know what i mean"

Yeah same here with the flow." he agreed with her as he then shook his head." No i didnt. Im just a great actor. " he smirked as he pointed at himself." Great actor.. maybe to great. I should tone it down a little?" he asked as he chuckled and listened to her go on about superman. " alright.. first off! NO TIGHTS. not happening. Not for a million nuts. And i mean food nuts.. i like almonds." he said with a small smile ." Thats cool.. i like that." he told her.

"maybe tone it down just a tad" Becky said smiling at him and then pouted sticking out her lower lip giving him the puppy dog eyes "aww no tights? but...you need tights...you are superman. Of course, if you need tights then I would have to wear oh practically nothing, Wonderwoman didnt exactly go around wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I don't know exactly how comfortable I would be running around in practically underwear though" She smiled slightly and blushed "and what's cool? What did you like?"

Just a bit , got it!" he said to her as he gave her a smile. " NO tights!!! What are you trying to kill my ego. MY insanity. My insanity mostly. I cant do tights. They are killers." he said to her as it was true." Tuesday thought i should wear tights and i told her the same thing. Its not happening. No tights. They will kill me. " he said as said." well jeans is better then tights..." josh then laughed." Yeah lets not go in our underwear. Unless we are models then its alright." he joked." the whole lois lane clark thing w/o the romance."

Becky smiled "yea i tried to get my ex-boyfriend Ryan to wear tights" She looked at him with pain in her eyes but kept her smile as she reminisced "He was my knight in shining armor. I always wanted him one day to just randomly ride up on a white horse and Robin Hood style clothes and just sweep me off my feet ya know, like in a muggle fairytale. "she said this rather dreamily then shook her head coming back to reality. "But like you he refused to wear tights." Becky looked up at him and smiled "And i don't forsee me being a modl anytime soon. Unless my inner eye is cloudy. And i thought the Lois Lane Clrk Kent analogy was rather clever of me" she giggled then looked back out at the lake sighing staring out over the surface.

Josh smiled and then said," Well it takes a real real confident man to wear tights. And im just not that confident yet. The day i do i shall come to your house."he told her as he then put an arm around her as she sighed." Im sure everything will turn out well. You deserve it."

Becky shook her head as he put an arm around her feeling comforted "I don't think it will, but I need to be strong and just get over it. It just wasnt meant to be I guess. I need to move on and find someone else to be my knigt in shining armor and sweep me off my feet." She looked up at him and smiled "oh and I think you are plenty confident to wear tights. You are just a little to manly to wear them. And you wouldn't find me at my house because i no longer reside there remember?"

Yeah im sure you'll find him. I hope he's not wearing anything shiny. It might blind you. And i hope its not lead cause its poisonous. Oh and im sure if he is wearing armor it makes a lot of noise. At least you will know when he is coming." he said then shrugging. " Ha yeah well i dont know. Maybe. Who knows. Get me drunk who knows what happens. " he joked. " yeah well im sure you'll stay at a house. "

Becky just stared at him as he said all this. when he finished she burst out in laughter "Josh...what...where..." she was unable to make complete sentences and collapsed to her knees in the snow still laughing holding her sides. By this time her face was bright red and she was crying from laughing so hard. She took a deep breath and looked up at him "that was so...random. but it completely made my night. no lie that was hilarious." She giggled again wiping tears from her eyes. "you are absolutly amazing"

Josh smiled as he laughed a little with her." Im glad it did. I tried to come up with something amazing. I need to keep up with the image of superman. Im afraid i wont be able to keep it. " he said truthfully." especially with superwoman over here stealing all the sunshine."

She iggled softly standing up looking down at her wet ants and shrugged looking back at him "awww...superwoman doesnt want to steal superman's sunlight. that would just be evil of her. And even if superwoman does steal his sunlight. He will always be her superman, and no one elses. Superwoman doesn't like to share" She smiled at him "you've done more supermanning tonight than i have superwomaning" she had a rather goofy look on her face as she said this "yea i just definitely made up two words"

*He let out a sigh, smiled and rubbed her tear away with his thumb. That was all he needed to hear from her. He found a person who cared for him. Other then Elea no one did. His father acted like he did when it suited him. But he knew deep down he didn't. Kate talked to him before he left for boot camp. Back when he was the nerd of the school. She would stick up for him and be a friend. She cared about him before he turned very hot as Elea put it. Amos just couldn't stay mad at her. He was a person who believed in second chances. As far as he knew from what Kate had told him her family did not give her many. He smiled and pulled her back in to a hug and smiled into her hair.*

"That's all I need to hear... It's ok."

Josh smiled at her," Thanks. " he told her as he just shrugged." Its all in a days work you know. Of course you do." he said as he laughed with her." Yeah great job. Its alright. i do it all the time."

Becky giggled "Josh Moonson you are one very unique guy" she smiled and looked back out over the lake mumbling something about 'supermaning and superwomaning.' She giggled again and looked down at her wet pants. "you wanna go inside where it's warmer. plus I umm prefer to have dry pants over wet ones"

Yeah sure thats good." he said as he just gave her a smile. " race you." he said as he started off to the castle.

Becky smiled running after him laughing "not fair. You got a headstart" she ran faster trying to catch up, but superman was just to fast, you know being faster than a speeding bullet and all.

Kate gave him a small smile in return as his hand brushed against her cheek, wiping her tear away. In that instant she knew it was going to be okay -- and her feelings were affirmed solid when he took her in his arms once more and whispered gently into her ear. She sighed with relief and held herself close to him.

"I'm so sorry --" she whimpered. "I never meant for you to find out in this horrible way -- I'm sorry I put you through it --"

Xana and Claudian had walked to the lake in companionable, if somewhat awkwad, silence... she was still trying to figure out the best way to approach this conversation... was even tempted to find a way out of it, really. But, sooner or later it had to be done, even though she knew that the outcome would be painful. Better just to get it over with.

"So. About tonight." She finally spoke. "You were right... originally I was very much looking forward to attending the dance with Josh. He's been a good friend to me... and I don't have many good friends here yet."

"But, you see..." She closed her eyes for a moment, summoning courage. "Merlin, I don't even know how to talk about this; I'm rubbish with this sort of thing."

"Well... For a long time, I've had... feelings... for someone. " she shook her head, her tone melancholy. "It's unrequited-- I'm not fool enough to think it would ever be mutual. We hardly know each other, really, and... I believe he's already given his heart to someone else. But that doesn't stop me from feeling as I do. He is... everything I want; he is my whole heart. And... when I came into the common room, it really hit me that more than anything I wanted to be going to the dance with ... with him. Just him. I couldn't bear to attend any other way."

She paused and looked straight into the light green eyes she adored. "Do you understand... and can you forgive me?"