They went back up to the suite satisfied and happy. Gwen clung to Aiden's arm, her head resting against his shoulder. The whole ride up the elevator, she held him like that, closing her eyes to better concentrate on the feel of him, the nearness of him.

"Hey," Aiden said, waiting for her to open her eyes and look at him, "I love you."

"I love you, too," she said.

They kissed for the remainder of the ride up, not stopping until the elevator halted with the slightest of shudders and the doors opened. Then Gwen held his hand as they sauntered down the hall.

For once since Judith had so abruptly come and upset their lives, Gwen felt normal and happy. She loved Aiden and Aiden loved her back. It was that simple.

This was another moment she wished could go on forever. This moment of walking down the hallway with the gold-numbered doors passing by on either side, just the two of them alone together.

She concentrated on the sensation of the cool air rushing past her face, on the freshly-cleaned smell, trying to commit all this sensory information to memory.

"Why do we have to complicate things so much, do you think?" Gwen said.

"Are we talking everyone in general or just the two of us?"

"Both," Gwen replied, grinning when Aiden sighed and shook his head in mock exasperation.

"I believe it was Einstein who said that it's easy to make things more complex and complicated," Aiden said after giving the matter some thought. "And that it is difficult to simplify things."

"We make things hard on ourselves because it's easier than making them easy?" Gwen said. It had a sort of backwards logic that made sense.

"I suppose."

"Okay, but what about the two of us? Why do we, specifically, seem to make things complicated and difficult for us?" Gwen said.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say it's all our fault. First there was Henry. Now there's Judith..."

"Actually, first there was that contract you convinced me to sign. Remember when I told you that you didn't have to do that? That I would have said yes if you'd just asked me out like a normal person? That definitely made things more complicated. For both of us," Gwen said.

Aiden sighed again, this time not in mockery. "I could have, yes. But would I have been able to keep you around after you saw just how crazy my family is without a signed contract between us? That, I don't know."

She poked him in the ribs for that one, making him flinch and chuckle at the same time. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. You are awfully handsome. I'm willing to put up with a lot for handsome."

"Then I suppose I'm lucky you think so," Aiden said.

Gwen kept looking up at him, taking in his nice cheeks, that strong jaw of his, those eyes that always seemed able to look straight through her. And he was tall. She couldn't leave out the tallness. A hint of stubble also peppered his face, the day wearing on as it had, giving him something of a rugged aspect.

Her mind couldn't help but to think about the light prickle of that stubble she'd experienced if he kissed her. Her thoughts followed the well-worn tracks of touching leads to kissing, kissing leads to more inappropriate touching, which dovetails so nicely into nudity. And nudity could lead to only one thing. Especially if it was Aiden’s nudity in question.

"Hey, what do you think of spending the night in? Just the two of us?" Gwen said.

"Well, actually," Aiden said, glancing at her. It started as a glance, at least. It turned into more when he saw the way she pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and then let it slide out slowly. "You know, staying in sounds excellent to me. A nice, quiet night..."

It wasn't even night yet, though. The sun still poked in through the window at the end of the hall. Hours of daylight remained,

Neither of them cared.

"Very quiet," Gwen agreed. They both began walking more quickly.

"A nice, quiet night in bed. Maybe get some pay-per-view," Aiden continued. He tugged the knot of his tie loose and popped the button on his collar.

"Such a nice bed," Gwen said, "So soft and comfy. And it doesn't even squeak, either!"

"Are you sure about that?"

They had just about reached their door, but apparently Aiden couldn't wait to get started. He pressed her against a patch of wall between two doors and kissed her, his knee pushing between her legs.

When he started to pull away, Gwen grabbed his tie and urged him forward again. His hands crept towards places on her body that you weren't supposed to touch in such a public place.

"I don't think they have a bed out here," Gwen said. Despite her complaint, she didn't try and stop his hands from doing what they wanted. She could barely hear her own thoughts over the rush of blood past her ears.

"How unfortunate," Aiden said, "Why don't we go check and make sure our bed is still where it should be?"

"And then we'll check it for squeaks?" she asked, unable to keep her lips off his again. His stubble did prickle her a little, just like she wanted it to. She wanted to feel that prickle all over.

"Thoroughly," Aiden replied when he could. He took her by the hand, both of them suppressing the urge to run the last few lengths down the hall. By the time they arrived at their suite, Aiden gripped the keycard.

"What's that?" Gwen said.

There was already something in the lock's card slot. Aiden frowned, pulling it out. It was a piece of folded paper.

Seeing that doused Gwen's fires. A shot of coldness moved up from her stomach, spreading into her chest. They looked at each other, both knowing the source of the note.

"She certainly knows how to kill a mood. I'll give her that," Aiden said.

Gwen leaned against the wall, experiencing withdrawal from her desires. Another complication, she thought.

"Yeah, she's definitely an expert. What does it say?"

"Do you really want to know?" Aiden asked, "We could always leave it for a while. There's no way she could know when we'd be getting back to see it."

That tempted Gwen. And she tried to rekindle her desires, she really did. But it was like the old witch had cursed her, because she couldn't. The powerful procrastinator lobby within her appealed, arguing that there wasn't anything wrong with pushing reading the note back a few more hours. A few more hours of blissful ignorance.

Gwen had grown tired of procrastination, however. It was exhausting, always putting things off for the longest possible time. Often it required more effort than doing what you should have done in the first place, as she had so recently discovered with not telling Aiden about Ben right away.

"Read it," she said.

Aiden nodded in agreement, then unfolded the paper, the whisking noise of it loud in the quiet hall. He scanned it quickly.

"Well?" Gwen said, impatience replacing procrastination.

"We have another assignment, should we choose to accept it," Aiden said, pausing for dramatic effect, "All of us, your parents included, must be dressed and ready by 10 PM this evening."

"Dressed and ready for what?"

"It doesn't actually say here. Just to be ready. Suits for the men, dresses for the ladies... It's quarter after six now," Aiden said, jerking his left wrist to expose the face of his watch.

"So much for a nice, quiet night in," Gwen said.

"We can test the bed for squeaks another time."

"Why do you think she's doing this? I mean, she must have more than enough material by now to say that there's no way we can ever live up to the contract. Why the additional flaming hoops?"

Aiden refolded their new marching orders and tucked them into the inner pocket of his jacket. "It goes back to what I said about complications. Judith lives for this sort of drama. She does it because she can, because she likes it... You know, if you think we're already beaten, we don't have to go. We don't have to play her games anymore."

"But if we break the rules like that... Aiden, both the agreements I have with her say that I have to leave you if she isn't satisfied."

Aiden held out his hands. When she accepted, he pulled her away from the wall and against his body. He clasped his hands together behind her back, locking her to him. "You know I'd never let her do that. I'll give up Carbide Solutions first..."

"You can't!"

"I can and I will. Besides, if that doesn't work, we could always run off to Argentina or Brazil. Non-extradition treaties, she can't touch us there," Aiden said.

She didn't smile at his joke. "I didn't go through all this stuff just for us to quit at the end. You can't quit. I already made you promise that, remember? Or should I have gotten that in writing, too?"

"Ouch. Okay, fine. What do you suggest then?"

"Well, she's obviously still willing to play the game with us. I say we make it our game," Gwen said, "Let's push her until she gives in."

Judith could have called the game on account of Gwen and her parents several times now, but hadn't. Instead, she kept dragging them all with her. Gwen wondered if Judith maybe wasn't so certain of herself as she seemed.

Maybe, just maybe, her little diatribe at high tea had gotten through to something still human in the old woman. Maybe they could get her to back down, to give this whole thing up, and just let Gwen and Aiden live their lives.

"Okay, how?" Aiden said.