Kenzie sighed and moved into the room. "No one is going to steal me away. Dragon, remember? No one can make me do anything I don't want to, and I certainly don't want to leave you."

"Can you promise you won't set me aside?" Gemma asked quietly, blinking away more tears.

"Yes," Kenzie said immediately. "I can. I have had full hoards before, I know how to balance my time appropriately."

"Promise me," Gemma said, her fingers twisting in the seam of the pillow she was still holding.

"I promise you I will not abandon you, forget about you, or leave you on your own in any way," Kenzie said, putting her hand over her heart.

Still crying, Gemma got up and went over to Kenzie, just leaning on her. It took her a little while to calm down again.

Kenzie just held her, making a soothing purring noise deep in her chest. This, at least, she could do.

Gemma stayed there until her sobs tapered off to the occasional hiccup, and even then she was reluctant to move.

"Pick a weekend," she finally murmured. "I'll close the shop for a few days. Then you can drag everyone out to where there's more space for you to stretch your wings some."

Kenzie was quiet for a few moments. "Are you sure?" she asked gently. "I understand, if you don't want to come." She hadn't let go of Gemma yet.

Gemma just nodded.

"I told you to pick a weekend before," she pointed out. And besides that, she figured it had to happen eventually, anyways. May as well get the first group outing over with.

Kenzie hesitated a moment more before she nodded.

"Alright," she agreed. "I will."

Gemma nodded again, but still didn't move. The contact with Kenzie was comforting.

Kenzie didn't move either, letting Gemma be the one to pull away first. She didn't mind holding Gemma for a while, after all.

Finally, Gemma reluctantly slipped away.

"I'm going to go take a quick shower and settle in," she said softly. She looked at Kenzie hopefully. "Is the offer of pastries still open?"

"Yes," Kenzie said with a faint smile. "I'll make tea while you shower. Do you prefer to watch a movie in here or elsewhere?"

"Doesn't matter," Gemma said as she went to grab her towel. "Pick one."

"My room," Kenzie said after a moment. "I have the largest bed." She grinned a bit and went to go get the pastries and get everything set up in her room for a cozy night in.

Gemma took a quick shower and then changed into something comfortable for lounging. She could already smell the re-warmed pastries, and couldn't help but smile just a little as she went to settle in in Kenzie's room.

Kenzie brought in the pastries and tea, and then settled in for the movie night. Apparently they were long overdue this.

They were definitely overdue a movie night for just the two of them. Gemma settled in on Kenzie's bed, cuddling into the blankets and cushions.

The next few weeks passed more easily. Kenzie settled into having a larger hoard again, made sure that Gemma knew she was still the most important (and made sure everyone else knew it, too), and spent time with all her people.

And then the weekend arrived for them to head out to the middle of nowhere. Kenzie's eyes had gone gold in her excitement and refused to go back to human-normal.

"Is this normal?" Steve asked Gemma quietly, watching Kenzie practically vibrate in place in between flitting between her people to check on them all and see when they could leave already.

"Yeah, it is," Gemma replied, nodding. "Just go with it until we get out to where we need to be." She was ready to go, having brought some things to work on while they were out in the middle of nowhere, and she was packed for essentially a three-day camping trip.

Steve shook his head a bit. He had his own bag at his feet, and he knew most everyone was ready to go.

"We could get a head start down to the cars, get some things packed up," he said after a moment. "If you wanted."

"Sure," Gemma said, hefting her bag as well. It rustled a bit with what all was inside. She knew exactly where they were going to be, and she'd planned accordingly.

Steve nodded and grabbed a few of the other bags that were ready to go, carrying everything into the elevator and heading down to the garage with her.

"You seem pretty excited," he noted.