Meeting up wasn't as easy as he'd thought. It was, but it wasn't. Dustin figured he could make it back in time, despite the traffic. He'd forgotten though that he needed to 'miss' the others. He couldn't get back before they left. Or at least he couldn't be seen. And he needed in the room.

He parked the Storm Charger's van around the back of the motel. And as he entered the lobby, he saw Tori's bus pull out the front. Perfect. He ran up to the room to get ready.

He had wanted to pick Marah up at her room. An ordinary thing really. Picking up a girl at her house. He'd never been able to try though. What with her living in space and all. And her family not exactly liking him. And since no one knew about them.

Okay, so there were a lot of reasons he hadn't done this before.

But he wanted to do it now. He just didn't know how to not have Kapri see him. Or what room she was in for that matter.

As he stepped out of his room, he heard a door closing further down the hall. A blonde-headed Kapri had left her room, and was turning toward him. Quickly he ducked back into his room, watching through the cracked door till she passed.

He ducked back out into the hallway, and hurried to the room she'd left. He took a deep breath and knocked. He heard someone moving around, then the door opened.

Marah was standing there. Wearing a FreeAir jersey. An orange FreeAir jersey. Her hair was in low pigtails over her shoulders.

She looked surprised, but happy to see him. But when he just stood there, she finally said, "What? What's wrong?"

Oh, dude, he was staring. He felt himself blush, as he looked down. "Nothing. Sorry," he mumbled, and raised his head. "You look great."

Now it was her turn to blush.

"Are you ready to go?"

She smiled and nodded, pulling the door closed behind her. He offered her his arm, and she linked hers through it as they headed down the hall.

He knew he must have had a goofy smile on his face, but he couldn't help it. Marah was wearing FreeAir. How cool was that?

On the way to the van, Marah offered an explanation for not only Kapri's recent departure, but her own ability to get away that night.

"Kapri was headed out for snacks. She's going to stay in and watch "Survivor"." She turned her head to face him, to stress her next statement. "Kapri never misses "Survivor"."

"Neither does Hunter," he laughed. "I think he's TiVO'ing it. We had to swear we wouldn't spoil it and tell him who got voted off. Shane and I were going to find out who it was just so we could mess with him."

"I'll have to ask Kapri then," she grinned. He opened the van door for her, and she climbed inside. "Anyway, I told her I was going shopping. So I either have to come back with shopping bags or a good excuse."

He shut the door, then went around to his side. "Well, how about a fair?" he asked, settling in his seat. "Good excuse?"

She cocked her head and pondered. "Pretty lights, happy music... sounds like a great excuse for the easily distracted," her amusement showing in her eyes.

"The fair it is then," he grinned as he put the van in gear and pulled out.

They found Blake in a booth at the back of the restaurant. He was alone for the moment, so Tori claimed the seat next to him and Shane slid in on the other side of the table. It was a nice enough place, trendy and not at all formal, and it smelled really good.

"Where's everyone else?" Shane wanted to know, grabbing for the dessert menu automatically.

Tori gave him that superior look she was so good at. "Tell me you're not going to start with a sundae."

"Just checking out my options," he teased, smirking back at her. "You gotta have a goal in mind when you order dinner, right?"

"Haven't heard from Dustin yet," Blake offered. He was leaning back against the back of the booth, pretending to pay no attention to the dessert menu. But Shane caught him sneaking glances when he thought Tori wasn't looking. "Cam headed back to the hotel; said he wasn't hungry."

"He's avoiding us," Tori remarked.

Shane shrugged. "So? When isn't he?"

A waitress appeared at their table with menus and a smile. "Can I get you something to drink?" she asked, as she passed the menus out. Her nametag said Annabelle.

"Just water for me," Shane told her.

"I'll have a coke," Blake added.

"Sprite, please," Tori put in, then nudged Blake. "What about Hunter?"

"Nah, he's not here." Blake gave the waitress a smile. "We're all set, thanks."

"All right," she agreed, tucking her paper and pen away. "I'll be back with your drinks in a minute."

"Hunter's not here?" Shane repeated, glancing around. "Where'd he go?"

Blake sat forward, opening his menu and giving the contents a quick once-over. "I dunno, I think he had something he wanted to do."

It was a vague answer at best. Shane exchanged looks with Tori. She looked more curious than satisfied, which was good 'cause she was better at getting information out of the younger Bradley brother than he was. For obvious reasons.

"Something he wanted to do?" Tori repeated pointedly. "Like what?"

"Beats me," Blake said with a shrug. He still hadn't looked up from his menu. "He'll probably catch up with us later."

Tori did that little head-toss thing that she thought made her look innocent but really just made you want to run before she brought out the big guns. "If he doesn't find someone better to hang out with, you mean?"

Shane thought that was a little harsh, because come on, Hunter might be a little standoffish but he was a good guy and he liked them well enough. Blake obviously took offense too, since his head snapped up and he gave Tori a suspicious look. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Tori just shrugged, flipping her own menu open like she wasn't sorry at all. "I'm just saying, it's not the first time they've disappeared together..."

They who? Shane frowned at her, and he saw Blake giving her the same expression on the other side of the table. "You knew and you didn't tell me?" he blurted out.

Tori gave him a mock-surprised look. "You needed to be told? Did Hunter finally crack?"

"Oh, yeah, like Cam didn't tell you," Blake scoffed. "Come on, 'fess up."

"Cam didn't have to tell me," Tori replied loftily. "I used my well-honed ninja powers of observation."

"Uh, hello," Shane interrupted. He was tempted to wave his hands in their direction, but he settled for leaning forward across the table. "Is this a private conversation, or are we all entitled? Because nobody's telling me anything."

They both stopped, looking at him. Then, annoyingly, they looked at each other. Like they were deciding whether to let him in on the secret or not.

"It's really kind of obvious if you're looking for it," Tori said at last.

"Were you looking for it?" Blake asked dryly.

Tori opened her mouth, paused, then gave Blake the evil eye. "Hey, I've been trying to set Cam up for a while now. I knew there had to be some reason it wasn't working."

"Other than the fact that he's a reclusive computer geek and, no offense, but your matchmaking is kind of..." Blake trailed off under the force of Tori's glare. "Um, doomed to failure due to his lack of social skills?" he finished.

"It must have been hard for him to find someone as arrogant and moody as he is," she said sweetly. "But he managed. All by himself."

"Wait--are you saying Cam has a girlfriend?" Shane demanded.

For some reason, that made Tori laugh. "Actually," she said, grinning at him, "I'm saying that Cam and Hunter will probably never have girlfriends."

Shane stared at her skeptically, because really, what kind of a thing was that to say about your teammates?

Blake finally took pity on him. "My bro's totally gone on Cam, dude. He's probably back at the hotel right now, bribing him with I-don't-want-to-know-what to get Cam to go out with him."

"I don't think he needs much of a bribe," Tori murmured.

Annabelle the waitress showed up at that moment with their drinks, and conversation paused while they took them and thanked her. "Are you ready to order?" she asked politely. "Or would you like some more time?"

Shane glanced at Tori and Blake, but he didn't wait for either of them to answer. They'd done enough talking already. And barring about a dozen kinds of pie, he didn't even know what was on the menu.

"We're gonna need a few more minutes," he told the waitress.

The fair was larger than he'd expected. And Marah loved it. Everywhere she looked was something new and exciting she wanted to try.

They decided food was first on the agenda, and went at it with a vengeance. They started with foot long coney dogs with the works, then on through a bloomin' onion, corn dogs, grater taters, ears of corn, and topped it off with elephant ears.

Dustin thought he'd never eat another thing, ever, and Marah was talking about trying a pork chop sandwich. He'd finally met someone who could keep up with Shane's appetite. He suggested they take a break and try some games.

Their ninja skills got them both up the tipping ladder easily. She was a much better shot at basketball than he was though. He promised himself he'd practice more.

He had explained to her the tradition of the guy winning a stuffed animal for the girl. And after some failed attempts at various games, he went with something he knew he could do. He ended up at a crane machine, and pulled out for her a stuffed brown chicken with the softest fur feathers he'd ever felt. She hugged him and said it was only fair to trade, so she gave him the stuffed lion she'd won on the basketball game.

After that came the rides. And while there weren't many of them, they were certainly intense. Enough to make even the strongest stomach queasy when full of fair food.

By then they were ready to calm everything down. They walked quietly down the center of the fair, eating their ice cream cones, animals tucked under their arms.

It was getting dark, and the lights had come on. The mini ferris wheel lit up in a rainbow of colors turning in the sky.

Glancing down a side path, Dustin saw in the distance a game they'd missed. One he was pretty sure Marah would enjoy a lot.

"C'mon, let's try this one," he reached for her hand as he made the sudden turn to the left.

She looked at their hands, surprised but smiling. She nodded, and they took off running toward the laser tag tent.

Marah was pointing a gun at him.

In the flickering darkness, he recognized her before she figured out who he was. He still got shot for his trouble. His weapon went dead and she just stood there, staring at him in horror.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Her eyes were wide and the laser gun suddenly looked clumsy and useless in her hands. "I'm here alone, I promise, I don't want to cause any trouble, so maybe you could just like pretend that you didn't see me--"

Another black-vested figure swung out from behind a hanging wall, bumping his shoulder against hers as he swept the corridor behind her. "Marah, you don't have to apologize to every person you... oh."

Dustin caught sight of him and just stopped, fake weapon frozen in his hand while the black lights made the strobe's darkness glow. "Hey, Hunter," he said at last. "Dude, I uh... I didn't know you were here."

Hunter stared at Marah, who ventured, "Well... mostly alone?"

The sound of a weapon firing behind him made Hunter tense, no matter that he knew they were harmless. Dustin and Marah's guns both emitted a descending tone indicating they were offline, and Cam lifted his own toward the ceiling of the laser dome tent as he joined their little group. "Is Kelly paying you for this time?" he wanted to know.

"What? No, dude--" Dustin glanced from one of them to the other, then exchanged looks with Marah. "I mean, I got done a little earlier than I expected, and, like, everyone else was already out having dinner..."

Hunter raised an eyebrow in Cam's direction and found the other Ranger looking back. He was taking this awfully well, Hunter thought. Suspiciously well, in fact. Considering that Hunter was the one who was used to running into Marah at odd times--or had been, back on the ship--and Cam had kind of a history of demanding explanations first and making sarcastic remarks later.

Actually, Hunter admitted to himself, Cam could do both simultaneously without too much trouble.

"So who does that leave actually having dinner together?" Cam was asking. "Blake and Tori?"

"And Shane." Hunter smirked as he realized what Cam was saying. Some group activity... literally half the group had found a reason not to go.

"Look out!" Marah lifted her gun in Cam's direction, and he spun out of the way. Hers didn't work, of course, but Cam's registered a "kill" and the guy behind them shouted in dismay.

Hunter's gun made a cutesy chiming noise, indicating that he had spent enough time being "dead" and could now use the weapon again. He pointed at Dustin and then Marah with his free hand and warned, "We're gonna talk about this later."

"Well, yeah," Marah said, in her most obvious tone of voice. "'Cause if we have to sneak off to a totally different city and lie to our friends and family just to go on a date, what are you doing here?"

He stared at her a second too long. Her gun reactivated and she waved it in his direction like it was a baton. A baton with a trigger. She killed him for the second time, giving him a very sweet smile as she did it. "I guess we'll talk about this later."

She braced her gun against her shoulder and spun around, sauntering off like she was oh so pleased with herself. Dustin gave him an apologetic shrug before turning to follow her. Hunter took comfort in the fact that someone took advantage of the target Marah was making of herself a second later.

He stepped around one of the maze-like walls, then pushed through another, trying to stay out of everyone's way until his gun recharged. He saw the flash of movement and heard the yells that meant more "fighters" had crossed paths on the other side of a hanging sheet, and he stopped where he was. No sound behind him other than muffled sound effects and whatever passed for music in here, so he backed into one of the triangular niches to wait out his dead time.

Something pressed up against his vest and Cam's voice ordered, "Hands where I can see them."

Hunter laughed aloud. He should have known better than to trust his senses when he was playing with ninjas. He held both hands out to his sides in an exaggerated display of surrender before turning around.

"Whatever you say," he agreed, but some contrary impulse made him step into the gun like he was daring Cam to shoot him. Hunter couldn't help but notice that Cam hadn't actually killed him yet. There were no teams in this game, just every person for themselves, and he hadn't hesitated to knock off Dustin and Marah.

Cam's eyes sparkled in the strobe and his expression was even harder to read than usual. It was difficult to register movement in the intermittent darkness, especially so close. Hunter felt a kiss being pressed against his mouth before he really saw it coming.

The gun was gone from his ribcage, so he dug his free hand into Cam's vest and pulled him closer, lowering his head to deepen the contact. Kissing in the dark was hot, and nothing about the black lights or the strobe ruined the effect. They needed to play this game again. And again.

"We'll get kicked out," Cam gasped, his breath hot on Hunter's cheek as he made absolutely zero effort to pull away. The sound of his voice, out of breath and maybe just a little bit desperate, was a total turn-on. Hunter's fingers clenched on his vest.

"Fine by me," he muttered, finding Cam's mouth with his again.

He didn't hear his gun power up again, but he heard the explosive sound effect that meant it had been knocked out. Footsteps on the plastic tarp and people running by, shooting them without even slowing down, and Hunter paid no attention. Okay, he shouldn't be doing this. He knew that. But it felt so good...

They were still standing there when the wannabe-techno music went silent and the strobe paused. Their guns deactivated automatically and he felt Cam shove him away. "I can't believe--" He gulped a breath of air, wide eyes and tousled hair glinting oddly in the black light, looking nothing at all like the guy Hunter knew. "I just made out with you a laser tag tent."

"I can't believe that's as much privacy as we've had all day," Hunter grumbled, lifting his gun to look at the display. And he couldn't, because it wasn't, but he'd known better than to jump Cam in their hotel room earlier.

"890," Cam replied. Hunter blinked, then realized he was talking about his score. He had to look at his own display again. It was considerably lower, and he could hear the smirk in Cam's voice when he added, "You must have taken most of my kills for me."

Like he cared, he thought, watching Cam push a piece of hanging plastic out of his way as he headed for the exit. He was just walking away like it was nothing. Which was fair, maybe, because it wasn't like they'd never made out before... but not in front of other people.

Okay, not in front of this many other people. Hunter lifted his free hand to scrub at his face, biting back a sigh as he turned to follow Cam. His skin was still hot, demanding that he pull off his vest, shed his t-shirt, anything to cool him off and relieve the pulse still pounding in his ears. But what was it? Lust? Embarrassment? Nerves?

What was he even doing? What was Cam doing? 'Cause they didn't seem to be on quite the same page, here. He'd never expected Cam to be casual about this stuff, but he felt like he was getting played.

The evening light made him squint as he stepped out of the tent, and just like that the day was normal again. It was just another night in LA, just another vacation, and he was thinking about Cam way too much. He was just another guy.

The ride attendant was reaching for his vest as he shrugged out of it, taking his gun and mostly ignoring him while Hunter ignored him right back. There was Cam, handing over his gear with precision and a polite thank you to the person helping him. Then he turned, a half-smile on his face, and Hunter swallowed hard.

Because Cam wasn't just a guy. He was Cam. He was smart and good-looking and a damn good kisser. He knew Hunter like he could read his mind sometimes. And that meant something.

At least, it meant something to him.

"They must have come out on the other side," Cam was saying, as he waited for Hunter to catch up with him. "If Marah didn't just run the second they let us out."

Marah. Right. What the hell was Marah doing here, anyway? Where were her fellow minions? "You didn't seem too surprised to see her," Hunter said abruptly.

"I've come to expect her and Kapri at the most unexpected times," Cam replied.

"She said she and Dustin were on a date." He glanced sideways at Cam, wondering if he would ever answer Marah's question. What were they doing here? Having dinner, visiting a fair for no reason at all, talking each other into a round of laser tag... Would Cam ever admit to anyone that what they were doing counted as dating?

Really dating, as in "Hi, this is my boyfriend Hunter" dating? Or would it always be "Sure, we're dating" when they were alone together and "We shouldn't have to tell them" when they weren't? Maybe Cam didn't even make that distinction.

Maybe.

"She also said she was going to help us destroy Beevil," Cam pointed out, not looking at him. "I don't think her word's conclusive at this point."

What about her actions, Hunter wondered? She'd sure taken Dustin's presence for granted in the laser tag tent. Dustin had definitely been with her when he told her to stop apologizing for shooting people. And Dustin was supposed to be working this evening.

The way Cam was supposed to be spending some time alone, probably. Great. So they were all lying to each other now. In fact, if Marah was telling the truth, then she was pretty much the only one.

Hunter frowned, not pleased by that idea.

It was Marah's yelp of surprise that reminded him they were still playing a game. The shock of seeing Cam and Hunter in the laser tag tent had thrown him for a loop. He had just turned from Hunter when he heard Marah just a few steps away. She'd been too busy gloating over her double kill of Hunter or something, 'cause she'd gotten herself 'killed' again.

Ninja skills or Ranger reflexes, he wasn't sure which, but they kicked in immediately. He raised his gun and took out the guy who had 'killed' Marah before he could even think about turning the gun Dustin's way. He touched her arm lightly, guiding her toward one of the plastic barriers. He covered her back, picking off two more players, while they maneuvered over to the barrier so they could wait out her 'dead' time.

"Ya gotta watch out a little more, Marah," he said, crouching down beside her. Though he knew he couldn't really fault her gameplay. She was pretty good when she paid attention. She just had to, you know, pay attention. But who could blame her for not being focused after running into Hunter and Cam? If he had to pick, those two would have been the last people he ever would have expected to see there.

She waved her hand dismissively at him as her gun reactivated. She leaned around the barrier and picked off three people running by before turning back to him.

"He deserved it. Saying we'll talk about it. They're the ones who need to talk about it," she waved her gun in the direction they'd come.

He shrugged. "You know Hunter. He's just looking out for everyone. He acts like he's the big brother of the whole team."

"He's not my big brother," she huffed. Dustin couldn't help but notice that behind her supposed anger he heard tons of worry. "He'll think I'm a spy, or something worse. He'd never understand...," she stopped as her eyes met Dustin's. Whatever else she had wanted to say, she never said. But Dustin's mind finished the sentence for her. "Us." She didn't think Hunter would understand them or what they had. And Dustin had to admit that their relationship wasn't the easiest to explain.

It was probably something they should talk about. But she didn't stick around for Dustin to ask her to continue. As the music stopped and the lights came up, she stood and ran for the door.

He followed her quickly, calling after her. He handed over his gun and vest at the door, then turned to the festively-lit darkness of the fairway. Marah was waiting for him by the row of cubbyholes players placed their belongings in. She had retrieved their stuffed animals, and handed him his lion quietly.

They cut around the side of the tent to get back to the main fairway. Suddenly Dustin held out a hand and stopped her. They stood beside the tent as Hunter and Cam walked by, engrossed in conversation.

"I wonder if they'll tell everyone else that they saw us," Dustin pondered aloud.

"I wonder when they'll tell everyone about themselves," Marah added.

Dustin had been watching Cam and Hunter fade into the crowd, but turned to look at her then. He had suspected Cam and Hunter were dating for a while. He didn't think anyone else knew though. But if a 'bad guy' - and not just any bad guy, but one most people thought was pretty oblivious - had figured it out, maybe it was more obvious than he thought.

"C'mon," he said, reaching for her hand. He wasn't going to let this ruin their evening. If Cam and Hunter told the others about Marah and him, there would be trouble. And they'd have to deal with that later. But tonight was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. And he wasn't going to let them spend what could be their last time together worrying about what might or might not happen.

She smiled slowly and took his hand, seeming to understand. Tonight was for fun; they'd figure out the world tomorrow.

They ventured out into the crowded fairway, heading toward the mini ferris wheel twinkling in the distance.

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