It was a week later. Cairo was innocently walking out her front door when she found herself being completely drenched by an unforeseen force. Gasping as water dripped from her hair and her clothes, she surveyed her door and found the culprit. A bucket was hanging upside down above her door.

She heard an unmistakable laugh coming from somewhere in the vicinity. She turned around and saw her most wonderful neighbor laughing, near tears, at her expense.

"Carter!" she said, calmly. She turned towards him, smiling while pursing her lips, started to march over to him.

"Kay, take it easy. Kay, it was just a joke," he said, eye widening as she started to run after him.

"Carter!" she bellowed. He yelped and ran into his house slamming the door shut in her face.

The next day, he was headed out to his pool, towel in hand, when he noticed Cairo sitting underneath her willow tree, where she normally was in the morning, accompanied (of course) by her laptop.

He waved when she looked over at him and then pointedly ignored him. He pulled the cover off his pool and stood there stunned by what he saw.

The water had been drained. Now, in it's place, was a pool full of bright green silly string! Without saying a word, he glanced back over at Cairo and saw that she was hiding a smile. She turned over to him.

"Water a little low, Carter?" she asked. He narrowed his eyes. Now it was war! Before, it was just a joke to get a smile out of Cairo; even though she put up a cheerful exterior whenever she was with him, he could tell that she was still really upset and sad and depressed. But now this was war!

* * * *

Yawning, Cairo looked over at the digital clock's bright red numbers. A little past four a.m. She'd been up for over forty-eight hours. Rubbing her eyes, she tore herself away from her desk chair and walked over to her faithful little coffee pot. Stifling another yawn, she measured out coffee mix and plugged in her machine.

Gazing out the window to her favorite sight, the still water, daydreaming until the gurgle of the coffee it made when it was ready startled her out of it. She grabbed her super cup (the size of a soup-bowl) and poured. She fumbled around in the semi-lit kitchen until she found her sugar bowl. She was about to dump it into her cup when she remembered Nick's last trick. He had replaced her toothpaste with stuff that makes your teeth green. Rolling her eyes, she licked her finger and tasted the sugar. It was sweet and very sugar-like.

After her coffee was "sweetened to taste", she wandered over to her couch and reflected about her newest hobby. Her practical joke war with Nick. It had all started with the bucket off water. That had been almost two weeks ago, and now both of them were afraid to turn their backs, because the other was always ready with something.

So far Nick had replaced her toothpaste, filled an entire room of her house with crumpled up newspaper (that must have taken forever and countless sheets of paper!) so that when she opened the door, she couldn't get in, short-sheeted her bed, booby trapped her couch (we're talking whoopy-cushion overboard), exploding boxes, invisible ink, shaving cream instead of whipped cream (that was the cruelest of all, her greatest weakness was whipped cream) and gum that tasted like pepper.

Of course she had gotten him right back and had even sunken so far as to hide a skunk in his garage. That was her last trick, and so far, Nick hadn't tried anything else. He was still probably trying to get rid of the smell!

Setting down her nearly empty coffee cup, she yawned again and stretched out on her couch. Okay, you have ten minutes to rest, but you have two chapters to finish before seven, she chided herself.

* * * *

She awoke to the sight of two piercing blue eyes. Taken aback, she blinked and looked again. Nick was there.

"Cairo, I give in! Let us call a truce!" he pleaded. She sat up, still dazed by her first five hours of sleep into over two days. Then she noticed his hair and burst out laughing.

His signature blond locks had been replaced by bright orange.

"Truce? Please?" he pleaded.

"Yeah. Considering you gave in and all. Man, I can't believe I fell asleep. I have enough caffeine running through me to keep a jet engine fueled for weeks!" she exclaimed. Nick looked away suddenly.

"Carter, what'd you do?" she asked, threateningly.

"Let's just say you switched to decaf," he said. She looked at him, and he knew he was going to get it.

"WHAT? You couldn't do normal stuff, like replace my sugar with salt, you switched my coffee? You really are getting desperate for a practical joke, man!" she whined. He laughed.

"First of all, I'm the King. You cannot get me with just normal tricks. I'm the King, need I remind you. I was just going easy on you because you're a beginner. But, you shouldn't down so much coffee to keep you awake, it's not good for you!" he said.

"Whatever, King. Of Crap maybe, but coffee is coffee and you do not want to see me without my coffee!" she growled.

"I know that's not you talking, it's the addiction," he said, wiping away an imaginary tear.

"What addiction?" she demanded.

"The first step is to admit you have a problem. You can get help. You can get over your caffeine addiction," he said, in mock seriousness. Deciding to play his game, she stood up.

"My name is Cairo and I'm a coffee-holic," she said, bowing before his applause. "But seriously Carter, you mess with my latte again and you die!"

"Yeah, yeah. So, what are ya doin' tomorrow night?" he said curiously.

"Plotting your death-I mean, nothing," she said.

"Me and the guys are meeting over at AJ's. It's just a kinda get together, to catch up on stuff. We haven't seen each other in 'bout two weeks, and it's another two and a half before we leave on tour," he said, quietly saying the last part.

"You go on tour soon? But I just thought you were on one?" she asked, feeling like someone punched her in the stomach.

"Yeah. The other one was just a little one, but we're ticking off out next world tour. So, you're gonna come?" he asked lightly, while pleading with his beautiful eyes.

"Sigh. I guess I shall," she said, faking reluctance. Inside, she was shaking with delight that it meant so much to him that she come, while still dealing with the thought that he would be leaving again, so soon.