Once everyone had taken their first bite, the table went completely silent; crickets could be heard chirping away outside. Billy grinned happily at them all, “Is everyone deathly silent because they're admiring my culinary capability?”

Orlando coughed, “Ah, yeah, Billy, that's why we're deathly silent.”

Raya’s eyes were watering at an alarming rate, “Billy....I think......you put....…” She coughed and couldn’t continue.

“Too much curry!” Liberty exclaimed, fanning her mouth.

Dom took another bite, “I think it's perfect.”

Liberty began gulping down her glass of ice water and then reached for Dom’s, which he passed to her with one hand while the other one piled curry into his mouth.

Anaka made a sound that sounded like “mmmm” and then said, “Yes Billy, wonderful curry.”

Billy beamed at them while Raya and Liberty ran off to the kitchen. Liberty got to the sink first and stuck her head under the faucet.

Raya calmly opened a bottle of wine, “White wine, Lib?”

Liberty’s face was completely soaked, not to mention her hair and shirt. Water was dripping down all over the place. She pulled her head out of the sink in order to gasp, “What?”

Raya downed an entire glass of wine and then poured some more, “It helps you know.” She handed a glass to Liberty, who gulped it down and then held her glass out for more. Raya watched, eyes wide, at the scene in front of her, “Er…I'll just take these out to the boys. You'll have to pour one for Dominic.”

Liberty gulped down yet another glass and exhaled a long breath, “Why?” She wiped her mouth.

“I might spit in it,” Raya answered obviously.

“Might,” Liberty snorted doubtfully, “Right.”

“Fine, I will spit in it,” Raya stated, rolling her eyes.

Liberty nodded and took the bottle from Raya. She gulped down the rest of it, “Then, I'd better do it. Let's go.”

Raya reached for another bottle, “You might want to savor the taste, Liberty.”

Liberty shook her head and took some empty glasses into the other room. Everyone was eating happily; Elijah was tearing something awful, taking long gulps of his water; Orlando and Dom were digging in, and asking for second helpings; Billy was graciously thanking everyone when they said how wonderful it was. Everyone turned when Liberty and Raya entered. Liberty set the glasses down in front of Orlando, Raya followed suit with two bottles of wine. Anaka was surprisingly silent, this might have been because her face was turning rather red and she was shredding a roll into tiny bits to stuff them into her mouth at random times.

Liberty took her seat beside Dom and began fanning her mouth almost immediately, “I need water. I still can't get this curry taste out of my mouth.”

Billy raised an eyebrow at her, “Can’t handle spice, huh?”

“She can handle me,” Dom commented off handedly, taking a huge bite of his curry. “And I’m saucy!”

“Have another glass,” Raya said, handing Dom a glass of wine and motioning for Orlando to hand her another one.

“She can have mine,” Dom offered, handing Liberty his glass of wine, which she downed in two quick gulps. She began stuffing her celery garnish in her mouth soon after. Elijah cautiously set his wine in front of her, looking like she could eat his hand at any given moment.

Orlando watched apprehensively, “Don't get her drunk, she’s underage.”

Elijah laughed, “So am I. I didn’t see you stopping me when I drank so much I was peeing in the fountain.”

“That was me,” Dom corrected.

“No, Elijah did too,” Billy said, “I remember quite vividly.” He shuddered, “And I shall never forget the horrid nightmares I had afterwards.”

“Liberty,” Dom said, looking a little anxious, “How much wine have you had?”

“I don’t know,” she replied quickly, “Couple glasses.” She handed her glass to Orlando, who poured her some more hesitantly.

“Sean would kill us,” Billy said, watching as she sucked down her wine. “Good thing he’s not here.” Billy laughed a bit as if he had just told himself a funny joke, “I'm not sure what drunk liberty would be like.”

Dom grinned, “I'd find it enjoyable.”

“Go find it enjoyable somewhere else,” Raya waved a hand in dismissal, taking a tiny bite of her curry.

Liberty gulped, “I’ll go with you.”

Elijah looked weary, “I'm not sure we should allow that.…” he glanced around the table, “If she’s drunk and not thinking straight…and Dom is…well, Dom…”

Raya glared at Dom as if he had done something already. Dom set his fork down, “What are you glaring at me for? You're the one getting her drunk!”

“It's the closest liquid,” Raya said defensively.

“I’m not drunk,” Liberty insisted, though she was swaying slightly on the spot.

Billy sighed heavily, “Oh for pete's sake, Billy's going to save the day again. Come on Boris, let's get you to your room.”

Liberty giggled as Billy helped her to her feet, “Boris? Yelstin?” She giggled loudly. “I need more water.”

“No, you don’t,” Raya said, standing up to help Billy, “You need to take a nice lie down.”

“Well,” Anaka sighed happily, “I’m glad she’s gone.”

Elijah glanced angrily her way, but didn’t speak to her, “Was she offering help?”

“She does help from time to time, Elijah,” Orlando replied sternly, “It'd do you some good to pay attention once in a while.”

“She only helps the misfortunate,” Anaka put in, taking a lady like sip of her water.

Elijah glared at her, and this time directly spoke to her in a anger ladden voice, “Liberty is NOT misfortunate.”

“Thank you, ELIJAH.” Orlando looked pointedly at Dom.

Dom was shoveling curry into his mouth, but said, “What?”

“Well, by comparison to Raya, Liberty's misfortunate,” Anaka said, unaware of the tension between the boys.

Orlando shook his head, “They're two completely different people.”

Elijah hit Dom in the back of his head, “WHAT?” Dom demanded, dropping his fork. “I’m eating!”

Anaka set her fork down carefully and dabbed a napkin at her lips, “Well, with LOTS of work Liberty could become near Raya's equal.”

“You can't change Liberty,” Elijah argued, shaking his head, “And I don’t think anybody should want to.”

“Raya has already tried to change her,” Orlando put in.

“And failed,” Elijah contributed.

“Miserably,” said Dom, stuffing a whole roll into his mouth.

“Thank you, Dom, for that wonderful insight,” Orlando rolled his eyes.

Dom smiled cheekily, “Anytime.”

Elijah became quite angry looking, “Aren't you supposed to be the one sticking up for your girlfriend?”

Orlando had an equal look of anger on his face, “Elijah and I are giving Oscar winning performances --”

“And all you can do is sit on your ass and eat curry?!” Elijah demanded, standing up from the table.

Dom sounded offended, “It’s good curry. And I was famished.”

Just then, Billy and Raya came back into the room, having set Liberty into her bed. “Whoa, where are we? I thought we left a room full of guys....and Anaka. Not a roomful of PMS-ing girls,” Billy commented, sitting in his seat. Elijah sat back down, looking livid.

Raya still hadn’t sat down, she was glaring heavily at the back of Dom’s head, he finally turned around to see. “What?”

“Well?” Raya asked, tapping her foot on the ground in annoyance.

Elijah leaned towards Dom and whispered, “Ask about Liberty.”

“Oh, shit! Right! Liberty!” Dom looked very nervous, “Is she okay?”

Orlando and Elijah shook their heads angrily at their friend, but didn’t comment. Raya looked furious, “Dominic Archibald Monaghan!” she hollered, her hands on her hips.

Dom’s mouth dropped open, “Where did you find that out?”

“Probably the internet,” Billy commented in a sidebar to Elijah, who chuckled.

“That is not the issue at the moment, your girlfriend is sick, and YOU are still here eating curry,” She looked very put out with him.

“If I were you, I'd go,” Orlando commented, watching his girlfriend get angrier by the second.

Dom nodded a little, “Ah, but you're not me, and you're dating the spawn of Satan.”

Orlando lunged across the table at Dom, who sat back and fell off his chair onto the floor. Billy put a hand out to hold Raya back. Elijah jumped in front of Dom in order to hold Orlando off from hitting him square in the face.

“How exciting!” Anaka cried, clasping her hands together.

“My CURRY!” Dom hollered, standing up. Orlando was laying on top of it. The table top was a complete mess, curry was strewn everywhere, and Orlando was trying to get off the table in order to properly lunge at Dom.

“Bastard!” Orlando shouted, standing up and stepping towards Elijah and Dom.

Dom cowered behind Elijah, “Not the face!”

Anaka looked stricken, “Oh god, no! not the face!” Raya gave her a look that shut her up.

Elijah put his hand on Orlando’s chest to stop him from moving further, “Whoa, Orly....come on, he didn't mean it.”

Orlando took a deep breath and glanced at Raya who told him to stop with a brisk shake of her head, “Fine,” he muttered, turning around.

“Perhaps I did,” Dom stated airily.

“DOM!” Elijah hollered, turning back to glare at Dom, “Shut up!”

“Stop antagonizing,” Billy warned.

Orlando took one last lunge towards Dom; Elijah fell out of the way, onto Billy and the two collapsed in a heap. Orlando landed on Dom and punched him in the stomach with not a lot of force, for he held back being that Dom was still his friend despite the fact that he’d made a derogatory remark at his girlfriend.

“AH!” Dom hollered, “OW!”

“You stupid footed hobbit!” Orlando gasped, standing up, off of him.

“Poncy elf!” Dom spat back, clutching his stomach and writhing around on the ground, moaning.

“I have to go to the set,” Dom put in, “It’s my job.” He became doubtful and laughed, “I highly doubt you’d ever use them on me.”

Elijah chuckled uneasily, “No need for threats.”

“Would you rather die by white knives or food poisoning?” Raya asked as Orlando helped her into her coat.

Dom pondered this for a moment, “Either way it's very painful…and what are you doing trying to kill me when you want me and Liberty to live happily ever after?”

Elijah sighed heavily, “PERHAPS,” he interjected, “you should go check on Liberty and shut the bloody hell up.”

Billy nodded in agreement, “Good plan, go on, Dom, out the door. You know where her room is.”

Dom didn’t move, but Orlando and Raya left after making sure someone could drive Anaka home. “They're both crazy!” Dom yelled, throwing his hands in the air.

“So are you,” Billy muttered, starting to clean up some of the mess.

“See them both trying to take my life?” Dom asked, pointing to the door and then grabbing at his stomach, “I’ll never be able to eat again.”

“I think they had good reason,” Billy said with a raised eyebrow.

“I was only trying to take Raya down a notch,” Dom said, “That’s all.”

“That’s kind of impossible,” Elijah commented, picking some forks up off the ground.

Anaka begged to differ, “It can be done, with hard work.”

Billy ignored her, “Go, Dom.”

Dom sighed heavily, “Fine, I’ll go see Liberty.”

“I won’t even comment about how you shouldn’t say it like that.” Elijah murmured angrily as Dom left the room.

*

Liberty was not sound asleep when the door creaked open a tad and Dom peered through. Her eyes were closed, but she was aware of what was going on; she had heard everything.

Dom’s anger slowly dissipated as he watched the slow rise and fall of her chest. She was lain sideways, her face turned towards him. He smiled warmly at her and approached the bed. Cautiously, he climbed over her and laid beside her; he wrapped his arms around her the best he could, one arm going underneath her.

“What are you doing?” She asked, her voice sleepy as she snuggled into him.

He kissed her neck, “Laying here.”

“Ah,” she replied, grinning. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Can’t I come in and lay with my drunken girlfriend?”

“No, I mean, didn’t Orlando kick your ass?” Liberty slowly rolled over to face him.

Dom pushed some hair out of her eyes and smiled at her, “You heard everything?” She nodded as he rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“I can’t help that curry’s better than me,” Liberty remarked lightly.

“Hey,” he said, sounding hurt, “That’s not true and you know it.”

She shrugged, not committing, “We need to talk about what you said.”

“What did I say?” Dom asked, glancing at the open door, where light from the hallway was pouring into the room from. He could hear the faint mumble of the other people in the apartment, and the quiet tinkling of dishes being cleared.

Liberty raised an eyebrow, “You said you loved me.”

Dom laughed uneasily, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, “I thought we were going to die, I didn’t want for us to die unloved, is all.”

“Dom,” she said, sounding doubtful.

Dom leaned in and kissed her firmly on the lips, “Let’s just forget about it, okay? Pretend it didn’t happen? I was just being a twat.” Liberty nodded, but seemed a little distant and upset. “Libs, you know I love you---I’m just not in love with you.” He paused and added, “Yet,” as a quiet afterthought which she didn’t hear. She was listening to the footsteps approaching in the hallway. The footsteps stopped just short of her door and she could hear the creaking of the bathroom door closing.

“I need sleep,” Liberty muttered, starting to turn over. “I’ve heard I should sleep off the drunkeness so I don’t do something I’d regret.”

“Wiser words have never been spoken,” Dom replied, smiling a bit. She looked at him, watching his eyes as they surveyed her. “Raya said it, didn’t she. Dammit.”

Liberty grinned, “I don’t know why you hate her.”

“She hates me,” Dom answered in a defensive tone. “Maybe I’m jealous of what she has with Orlando?” Liberty didn’t have a response to that as she rolled over and Dom pulled her into him, “Are you cold?”

“Billy has the air conditioning on full blast,” Liberty muttered tiredly.

“That explains the Artic chill and abundance of blankets,” Dom replied, laughing as he pulled a few blankets over them. Both of them fell asleep soon after, completely clothed; except for shoes, neither of them had any shoes on.

*

“I guess I have to stay the night,” Anaka said, setting a glass into the sink for Billy to wash. He rolled his eyes at her. “I’ll go find Dominic and see if he wants to share the couch.”

“Nonsense,” Elijah said, brandishing a key chain at her, “I’ll drive you to Orly’s.”

Anaka sulked heavily as Elijah ushered her out of the apartment.

Billy went to bed soon after cleaning up the kitchen; he was completely exhausted as he shuffled past Liberty’s open bedroom. He peeked in and saw that she and Dom were both out cold. Smiling to himself, he closed the door and then went into his room.