~Videl~

As skittish as Videl felt about being around Kane, she couldn't help but yearn for some human interaction. And the Dare guy seemed a lot more friendly than Lars. So after thanking Shannon the Cafeteria attendant for her steaming tray of spaghetti and garlic bread, she decided she would accept their offer to join them for dinner. She felt a little guilty for not asking Sienna to meet her, since she'd asked her to dinner the day before, but tried not to dwell on that too much. Videl could only imagine the revulsion Sienna would feel knowing that she was going to eat with Kane and his friend.

Videl held her chin up though, ignoring that thought. She was not the Videl of the past, and as far as she could tell, Kane wasn't a villain. At least, she had seen no evidence of that so far. While she had made it to the top of the stairs without panicking, the moment that she neared the table where the two men were sitting, she started to tremble. Maybe I shouldn't . . .

Her thought of bailing was foiled by Dare waving her over enthusiastically.

"The Bubble Queen graces us with her presence!" Dare nearly shouted, gesturing at the empty chair for her to fill. 

Videl's cheeks heated up as she sat down with her food tray, trying not to trip over her own two feet.

"You'll have to excuse him," Kane said, a twinkle of mirth shining in his silver eyes. "He's not used to being around royalty."

"I'll have you know," Dare waggled his eyebrows comically as he spoke, "I happen to be a King at Virtual Pinball."

Videl giggled as she unwrapped her fork. "King Pinball?"

Dare's eyes widened at his mistake, and he slapped a palm to his forehead, seeming to realize how silly the title sounded. Kane almost seemed like he was going to smile, but stifled it. Videl wished he hadn't. The smile she'd seen on his face a week ago had taken her breath away, and she wondered how good it would feel for him to smile at her. She imagined that she would swoon like the women in the black-and-white films, fainting onto a conveniently-placed couch, and quickly tried to erase the cheesy image from her mind.

"I've heard tell of such a king," Videl joked, mimicking a centuries-old manner of speech, and twirling the pasta around her fork. "Well-met, sir." She immediately felt embarrassed for being so campy - she'd clearly been watching too many old movies. What if they didn't even get her joke?

"My reputation precedes me," Dare conceded, with an audible regret for his choice of title, while throwing his hands up in the air. Videl felt relieved that neither of them looked at her like she was a weirdo.

"And you?" Videl ventured curiously, locking eyes with Kane.

"Oh," Kane rubbed his hand against the hard line of his jaw. "I don't play games." He winked at her, and the way that he said it made her feel like he wasn't referring to video games. Her pulse quickened and her lips parted slightly, the fork wound with spaghetti lowering a fraction. Was Kane flirting with her?  Maybe she was just misreading the situation entirely, but her heart didn't want to listen. 

"Smooth," Dare responded cheekily, easing the crackle of tension Videl felt in the air before it had a chance to get awkward. Videl's laugh came out too breathy and shrill, doing a miserable job of concealing how Kane's words had filled her with butterflies. She hurried to bring her fork back to her lips and took a bite of her spaghetti, grateful for the distraction.

"So . . ." Kane started, glancing down at her mouth when the tail end of the spaghetti slurped past her lips with a too-loud sound, flicking a drop of spaghetti sauce on her cheek. Videl winced, absolutely mortified, and dabbed it away with her napkin. "How have you been?"

Dare paused for a second, halfway through taking a bite of a vending machine corn dog, but continued as if he hadn't. Videl nibbled at her garlic bread and chewed thoughtfully, trying to buy some time to decide what to say, and what not to say. After she swallowed, she tentatively answered his question.

"I've been . . . " Lonely!   " . . . pretty tired." Videl admitted, casting her gaze to the table. Tired was an understatement, she was exhausted, sleep-deprived, and drained. She hesitated, not sure if she should divulge anything else. But a selfish part of her really wanted someone to know what she'd been going through since Cryo. They both nodded, as if expecting her to continue. She knew that the dark circles under her eyes made it painfully obvious, but she voiced her problems anyway.

"You'd think I wouldn't worry about sleep after six months of cryo," Videl forced a halfhearted laugh. She stared at the table, afraid if she looked up at them, she would lose her nerve. "Apparently, insomnia and nightmares are temporary symptoms of recovery. I've hardly slept, and when I do, well . . ." She managed a small shrug, and chose not to elaborate. "Anyway, I nodded off cooking a pizza and almost burned the kitchen down, so I figured I'd just come here and get something to eat."

The short pause of silence that followed felt like hours to Videl, after her moment of vulnerability. 

"Sorry, I - " Videl started to apologize.

"Hey, no," Dare quickly interrupted. "Don't be sorry. I had crazy dreams after cryo-sleep, too! I swear, I think I had a dream about a cake that baked me, and it was eating me alive!"

Videl's eyebrows furrowed, unsure about whether he was making that up to make her feel better, or if he was telling the truth. Either way, if he actually had  that nightmare, it was child's play compared to the ones she'd been having, and she didn't feel like he could really understand what she was going through. She felt guilty about laying her problems on the table, anyway. "Still, I'm sorry - I don't want to be a downer." She risked a glance at them, and bit her lip.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Kane admonished, shaking his head, his eyes serious. "I'm the one who asked. You didn't do anything wrong by answering."

"I just . . ." Hate that I'm so miserable, I don't want to make you miserable being around me. She stood and went to gather her tray of hardly-touched food as if to make a hasty exit. "I should probably - "

Kane's hand caught hers and stilled it. The only physical touch she'd felt in a week caused her heart to do a somersault. 

"Don't run off." Kane said quietly.

His silver eyes were bright and absent of their typical icy-cold glint. "Sounds like you could use a little break."

~Kane~

Kane half-expected V to snatch her tiny hand back and bolt for the elevator doors, but she stayed completely still, relaxing under his touch. 

"I've got an idea!" Dare offered cheerily, seeming as eager to lift her spirits as Kane was. And Kane was grateful, because he honestly had no plan on how to fix things so that she wouldn't cut their time short, feeling guilty for opening up about her problems. He just knew that he couldn't watch her go with that sad, remorseful look on her face. 

"Come on, follow me!" Dare jumped up from the table and ushered them to do the same. 

Kane and V shared a glance and gathered their things to leave. Kane and Dare tossed their trash, and V discarded her food and dropped her tray into the autoclave bin, looking apprehensive but curious. As Dare ran ahead of them to swipe his wristband at the sensor, V leaned close to Kane and whispered, "Where is he taking us?"

Kane shook his head at her and whispered back, "Your guess is as good as mine."

Once they were all inside the elevator, Dare accessed the directory and deftly navigated to a sub-menu of the Nature Preservation Levels, clicking the Aviary/Arboretum Level. They didn't bother to question Dare's mischievous smile, and in seconds, the doors were sliding open. Kane hadn't visited since he was a kid, and as he took in the sight of it, he suddenly wondered why. Even with the usual artificial sunlight shifted into a more suitable bluish, moonlight glow - given that it was after dinnertime - the space was remarkable. Maybe even more so, Kane thought, realizing he'd never seen this Level at night. 

Impossibly tall trees stretched out as far as he could see, casting serene shadows across the earthen floor. Many small pathways wound through them in organic tendrils, and he knew from his experience as a child that one could easily get lost among the forest-like surroundings. The landscapers who had designed the place when the Starship was first being built hundreds of years ago clearly put a lot of effort into preserving the natural beauty of the trees and plants, and it truly was like a perfect slice of planet, preciously tucked away on a Starship hurtling through space. The only thing that stopped Kane from standing there forever just staring, was V's wistful words.

"Are they real?"

Her eyes glowed with the faux moonlight as she gazed at the scenery in front of her. He almost forgot how to speak, looking at her sweet, awestruck expression. She was irritatingly beautiful, he thought silently. Luckily, Dare answered her question.

"Yeah, of course! You can even smell the dirt and the leaves. They just couldn't synthesize something like that," Dare said, in reverence. "The only thing that's artificial are the lights and the wind/rain machines." 

Kane nodded in agreement, finding his voice again. "I can't believe I've never been here at night."

"You haven't?" Dare asked, eyebrows raised. "Where's your sense of adventure? It's the best time to go, but then, I guess most people don't think of it."

A hoot of an owl in the distance greeted them as they finally stepped far enough in for the elevator doors to close. Now that the light from the elevator was no longer filtering in from behind them, Kane's eyes adjusted to the darkness better, bringing the surroundings into a deeper clarity. 

"Wow," V breathed in wonder.

"So, you guys ready?" Dare turned to them, grinning mischievously again.

Kane blinked. "For what?"

"Hide-and-Seek."