Wylie and Vega return home from the date they planned at the beginning of Nothing Gold Can Stay. Based on "Kissed You Goodnight," by Gloriana.

This obviously doesn't take place in the same timeline as "If I Can Leave Off Burying The White," but there can never be enough Wega fic, right?

"Sorry we're getting home a little bit later than planned," Wylie said as they walked up to her door.

"Hey, you couldn't have helped that traffic jam," Vega said. "But taking twenty minutes to find your credit card at the restaurant, that one was all you. Hey," she said, putting a hand on his arm when he looked away. "I'm just teasing you. Don't be embarrassed."

He smiled at her. "I suppose after we did so well in the tournament, one of us was entitled to messing up something in the real world."

She laughed. "That's the way to look at it."

They were standing on the porch of the little house she was renting, a moth fluttering around the porch light. "I'm glad you came down with me today," Wylie said.

She was smiling at him. "I had a really, really great time."

"Me too." They looked at each other for a long moment, then Wylie cleared his throat. "See...see you Monday?"

She nodded briskly. "Yeah."

"Okay." He gave her another smile, backing down the two steps separating the porch and the ground. "Bye."

"Bye," she said, taking a step backwards towards her door, still looking at him.

Wylie returned to his car, making no move to start it as she vanished into the house. Moments later, her porch light went off, and Wylie was sitting in near darkness, with only the nearby streetlight providing him with anything. He put the key in the ignition.

The engine protested a moment before turning over, and the hesitation made Wylie doubt what had happened the last few minutes. The date had gone well – really, really well if they disregarded his panicked search for his MasterCard. They'd laughed a lot, he knew she hadn't stopped smiling and was pretty sure he hadn't either, and there were no awkward silences on the drive down or on the way back. And as they'd stood on the porch, he thought he'd seen her eyes flicker down to his lips a couple of times. But he wasn't sure, and he hadn't had the guts to kiss her and risk messing everything up.

He sighed heavily, staring at her door. Then he turned off the car and jumped out.

Vega peered through the window in her mudroom, watching the lights on Wylie's car go on as he started it up, letting out a shaky sigh as she waited for him to pull away from the curb. Her mind was racing, going through every moment of their day together, wondering what had happened. For her, the day had been absolutely perfect – up until he'd dropped her off. She felt like her face would hurt in the morning from all the smiling she'd done, she'd downed six bottles of water from all the talking on the road, and she couldn't remember a time when someone other than Wylie had made her laugh as hard. The traffic jam on 290 West hadn't even annoyed her – she was in no hurry to get back.

But something must have gone wrong. He'd left her with nothing but the acknowledgement that he would see her at work the day after tomorrow – or tomorrow rather, as the clock on the wall read a little after midnight. Should she not have teased him again about the credit card? Should she have not politely refused to try his dessert (although what she had told him about chocolate not always agreeing with her was true)? Should she have done...something different?

She blinked in surprise when she saw the lights go off on his car. Then, in the near darkness, she saw him leave his car and begin to run back toward the house. Moving fast, Vega disappeared from the window. As he jumped onto the porch and approached her door, Vega turned the lock it and swung it open to see Wylie with his hand up, ready to knock. She eased herself through the gap and joined him on the porch, both of them turning simultaneously to face each other. Her eyes were looking up at his, and his down at hers.

Then, as if it was now or never, Wylie leaned down, rapidly closing the distance between them, putting his hands on her face, sliding them back slightly into her hair. Her eyes closed just before his lips hit hers, and her arms came up to rest on his sides just below his arms, her hands closing around the material of his shirt. Her knees buckled, and his hands left her face to wrap around her waist, drawing her closer. Her arms slid around his neck and she arched her back to compensate for how much he was leaning down to her, glad that his arms were around her waist so she didn't have to worry about overbalancing and falling backward.

After a moment, Wylie pulled back, opening his eyes as his lips curled upward into a smile. They both straightened up, letting go of each other. Vega smiled, blushing. She found herself nodding. "Good."

"Have a good night," Wylie said, tipping his head to the side, and Vega almost wobbled again at the way he looked at her.

She nodded, her face back in the grin it had held all day long. "You too."

"And I kissed you goodnight. And now that I've kissed you, it's a good night."