by Melissa Good
"I'm sitting on a couch in the press center waiting for you," Dar said. "But you can't bring the other three on the couch with you. They have to sit somewhere else."
Kerry managed a wry chuckle. Then she fell silent.
"You okay?" Dar asked after a moment.
Another hesitation. "I've been better," Kerry admitted. "Had a bit of a problem getting that part in."
Dar felt a jolt of concern that chased away the fog of exhaustion."Want me to meet you at the hospital instead?"
"No." Kerry answered immediately. "I just want to go home. We can go to Doctor Steve's as soon as we land if you want, but I'm not spending another day here."
Dar nodded to herself. "Hear ya."
"Have some chocolate milk waiting for me?" Kerry added, with a sigh.
"You got it." Dar waited for the line to hang up and then she closed the phone and rested it on her knee. "The rest of our team's on the way back. Our CEO's with them, I know he wants to thank you guys in person."
The engineers took seats across from her with cups and plates and pleased expressions.
Mark entered with Kannan and Shaun, tired, but visibly happy. "Hey boss. Welcome back from the pit."
"Hey." Dar lifted a hand and waved. "Good job, people."
Scuzzy entered. "Hey! You guys did it!"
"We did it." Dar agreed, gesturing around to include the rest of the room. "You did it." She pointed at Scuzzy. "Everybody needs to slap themselves on the ass for this one."
Chuck chuckled. "Boy, I tell ya, I don't get to hear that very often."He admitted. "Mostly it's can you give me a bigger discount, Chuck, or your damn service center blew me off, Chuck, or your competitors are doing more for less, and what about that, Chuck."
"Yeah, we get that too." Mark brought a bottle of soda back to the seating area and took a chair near where Dar was sprawled on the couch. "Dar, there was only one or two streams we didn't have a gate for. I called the endpoint owner and threw a tunnel up for them, and they're good now."
"You know what the sad part is?" Dar stretched her arm out along the back of the couch. "We're the only ones who are going to know we did this."
"Who the hell cares?" Mark slid down and took a swig from his bottle."I don't. I know I did it. That's all that matters to me."
Dar watched them all gather, and she let the conversation flow around her, as the rest of the team straggled in. She was tired, but at some level satisfied, glad the circumstances had arranged themselves to allow her to end this day with a sense of personal triumph.
It felt good. She was glad they'd done it.
She realized she must have faded out for a minute, because she looked up at the doorway just in time to see Kerry enter with her mother, and Andrew, and Alastair right behind her.
Dar got up off the couch as they approached, opening her arms up as Kerry walked right into them pressing her body against Dar's with a soft, guttural moan. She enfolded her partner in a gentle hug, oblivious to the room. "Hey babe."
"Ungh." Kerry rested her head against Dar's collarbone. "Get the jam, Paladar. I'm toast."
Dar stroked her hair. "You look it. Sit down on the couch and I'll get you your milk."
Kerry didn't move an inch. "Actually a protein shake would probably do me more good. Any chance of that?" She tilted her head and looked up. "My body's really bitching at me."
"Your wish is my command." Dar gazed down into her eyes, a faint smile shaping her lips.
Kerry's nose wrinkled just a little. "You couldn't care less if the whole room is staring at us, could you?"
"Nope."
"Me either." Kerry pulled herself up and gave Dar a kiss on the lips. "Fantastic job, boss. You brought it home."
"Likewise." Dar returned the kiss and then released her and bumped her very gently toward the couch. "Let me get you something to put in your stomach." She watched Kerry settle on the couch, and then turned to find Alastair in front of her. "Hey."
Alastair put his hand on her shoulder and just looked her in the eye.
Dar winked at him. "Sorry to ruin your martyrdom, Alastair."
She was not overly surprised when Alastair pulled her into a hug. She returned it without reservation, feeling a moment of true personal happiness."Bastards."
"We need to talk later," he uttered just loud enough for her to hear. "But thank you, Dar. From my heart, thank you."
Dar patted his back and released him. "No problem."
"No problem." Alastair clasped her shoulder, and made his way to an overstuffed chair, which he sunk into with a long, tired exhale."Anybody got a cup of coffee?"
Dar started to turn, only to find her father there with a bottled protein shake in his hand. "Ah. Thanks Dad. Did you--"
"Heard the kumquat ask you for it," Andrew said. "Think she's hurting. Was a hell of a thing getting to that there place, I will tell you, Paladar. That woman should be in a doctor's office."
Dar glanced at her partner, who had collapsed on the couch. "I know. But I promised we'd go home first. She said we can stop at Dr. Steve's on the way from the airport."
Andrew grunted.
"I'm not hypocritical enough to argue with her. Thanks for helping out, Dad."
Her father clapped her on the back. "Didn't do squat rugrat. Kerry done it all."
Dar took the bottle and returned to the couch, sitting down next to Kerry and opening it. "Here you go." She put her arm over Kerry's shoulders and sighed, as Cynthia Stuart finally got through the crowd and sat down on a chair next to the couch. "Hello again."
"Hello, Dar," Cynthia said. "I'm very worried about Kerry. She seems quite sick."
"Me too." Dar glanced down at her partner, who was sucking at the protein shake, her body pressed against Dar's. "She has some cracked ribs."
"Oh my goodness!"Cynthia blurted. "Kerry! Why didn't you say something?"
Kerry looked up from her shake licking her lips a little. "Didn't have time. Sorry. I guess we need to fill you in on everything else too."Her voice was husky. "Mom got me into the Exchange, Dar. They weren't letting anyone in the front door."
"Thank you." Dar looked at Cynthia. "We were running out of time."
"Well--yes, I could see that--but what exactly were you doing?"
Kerry's mother asked. "I kept hearing the oddest things, about some accident, and some problem or something." She added. "I was even told you were under some kind of investigation!"
Dar looked over at Alastair and raised an eyebrow.
"I think that was really more of a misunderstanding,"Alastair said, drawing Cynthia's attention. He put his hands behind his head, interlacing his fingers. "We got it sorted out--I hope."
"They asked us to help out with some connections to the Exchange," Dar offered.
"Yes, I remember Kerry telling me that." Cynthia returned herattention to them. "Some cables or something was it?"
Dar nodded. "We ran in to a lot of issues, and had to get these engineers from NASA to help us." She indicated the two men. "They came up with a solution at the last minute. That solution was what Kerry was carrying into the Exchange."
"Oh!" Cynthia looked at her daughter. "My goodness!"
Kerry gave her a brief smile. She turned slowly and put her legs up on the couch, putting her head down on Dar's lap. "Yeah, it wasn't really a well thought out plan, but we were out of time," she admitted."I'm really glad I spotted you going in. Wouldn't have worked otherwise."
"Oh, well." Cynthia looked more than a little confused. "Well, of course I was glad to help, but it was so curious that you were having problems with them letting you inside. Didn't they want this problem addressed?"
"Now there's the sixty-four thousand dollar question." Alastair mused. "I tell you, Senator. There were a lot of conflicting motives in that building today."
"Goodness." Cynthia turned toward Alastair again. "But why would that have been, Mr. McLean. Please explain it to me, because I can see no reason for this strange confusion, and I want to understand since I am s
ure this will come up between me and my colleagues."
"Well--" Alastair drew her attention, giving the pair on the couch some time.
Dar draped one arm carefully over her partner's body. "Feeling any better?"
Kerry turned her head a little, peering up at Dar. "A little." She lifted one hand and rubbed her eyes. "I just feel so damned washed out. It's driving me crazy. I can't think straight," she answered, in a low tone. "Not to mention my guts hurt." She put a hand on her chest. "And I can't get a deep breath because of it."
Dar smoothed the hair back out of her eyes. She could see a glaze in the green eyes looking back at her, and she frowned in concern for along moment before she pulled out her cell phone. "Okay." She dialed a number from the memory. "Second opinion time."
Kerry closed her eyes and let her cheek rest against Dar's belly. It felt good to be lying down, and even better to be lying down on top of her partner. She wrapped her fingers around Dar's arm and concentrated on breathing shallowly, as she listened to the phone conversation.
"Hey, Sheryl. It's Dar." Dar watched the twitching tension across her partner's face. "Is the doc in? Can I talk to him for a minute?" She waited through a few moments of Gloria Estefan hold music, and then a familiar voice answered. "Hi, Dr. Steve."
"Hey Dar. What's up? Where are ya?"
"New York. Listen, Kerry's here with me and she ran into some trouble."
Their family doctor chuckled wryly. "You're rubbing off on her."
"She got a couple of cracked ribs." Dar went on. "They said it was hairline, but she's feeling pretty bad right now. Says she feels drained and can't think straight."
"Where is she?"
"Lying in my lap," Dar admitted. "But I don't think that's causing it." That even got a smile from Kerry, who opened her eyes and peered up at her. "She's white as a sheet."
There was a bit of rattling and a scuffing noise. "Hang on," Dr. Steve said, his voice a little more serious now. "You know which ribs they are?"
Dar looked down at Kerry who shrugged faintly, and then casually unbuttoned her shirt.
"Go ahead and count. You can see where the bandages are." Kerry closed her eyes again feeling a bit of a draft from the room on her now exposed skin. "Glad I decided on a sports bra this morning."
Dar gently counted up from her waistline. "Six from the bottom," she spoke into the phone. "Somewhere around there."
"Uh huh." Dr. Steve grunted. "They said it was a crack?"
"Just a hairline fracture according to the guy at the hospital. He said to have her sleep sitting up and gave her a prescription for the pain. He sent the X-rays back with us."
"What drugs he give her?" Dr. Steve asked.
Dar pulled the bottle out of Kerry's pocket and examined it. "Oxy-Contin. We picked it up yesterday."
"Honey, throw that in the trash," Dr. Steve said immediately. "Where the hell are you? I'll call you in something else. That stuff's a pile of problems. She having any trouble breathing? Dizzy?"
Dar could feel Kerry's ribcage moving under her hand, and it seemed to her to be doing so with more effort than usual. "I think so."
"Don't let her take any more of that," their doctor said. "How long you going to be there?"
Dar felt a sense of relief. "We're heading back home at one. Can I give her some Advil until we get back?" She looked down into Kerry's inquisitive eyes. She held up the pill bottle and rattled it. "I'll make sure she doesn't take any more of this."
Kerry's face relaxed a little.
"You can do that, rugrat," Dr. Steve said. "I'll see you when you get here, right?"
"Right. Thanks Doc." Dar hung up the phone. "He doesn't like the script."
Kerry blinked a little. "That makes sense," she said. "I didn't start feeling this crappy until after I started taking it. When I got back from the hospital I was fine the whole night." She stifled a yawn and let her cheek rest against Dar's body again. "I'll be fine here until we leave."
Dar tucked the bottle of pills into the cushion. She glanced up as Cynthia returned her attention to them, apparently done with Alastair. She saw the woman's eyes fall on her partner's half bared chest and belatedly realized her tattoo was showing, the snake's head saucily exposed.
Covering it with her shirt would be only too obvious. Dar rested her hand on Kerry's bare belly instead, rubbing lightly the skin just over her navel.
"Kerry, is that--" Cynthia leaned closer. "Is that a tattoo?"
Kerry's eyes went wide, and her nostrils flared. Her hand twitched,as it lay right next to Dar's, and her breathing sped up.
"Isn't it gorgeous?" Dar gallantly came to her rescue. "It's an oraborus, a symbol of eternity, curled around my name." She lifted her hand and traced the design, moving the edge of Kerry's sports bra over so her mother could see it better. "Look at those scales."
"Ah." Cynthia edged closer and peered, not without hesitation."How interesting." She cleared her throat. "Angela did mention something about that."
"I can always count on Angie." Kerry now dared turn her head and peek at her mother. "She saw it when I stayed at her house last week. Was it last week?" Her brow creased. "Seems like a long time ago."
"Yes, it does." Her mother recovered. "It's quite intricate."
"You don't like it," Kerry said, in a mild tone. "It's okay if you don't."
"Well," Cynthia said, "no, I don't. I don't think it's right for a young woman to mark herself up in that way." She paused. "So, no, in fact, I do not like it."
Kerry felt refreshed by the honesty. "That's okay. I didn't expect you to," she replied with equal candor. "A lot of people don't."
Her mother paused for a long moment, and then shook her head. "Why did you do it then? I am curious."
Kerry looked back up at Dar. "Why did I do it?" She mused. "I think I just wanted that statement, that emotion to be as vivid on the outside of me as it is on the inside." She closed her eyes again and exhaled, another wave of lethargy passing over her.
"I see," her mother murmured.
"I heard Angie's good news." Kerry decided a change in subject was probably a good idea. She could hear her mother struggling to keep her thoughts to herself and she had no desire to spark an argument at the moment.
"Yes." Cynthia sat back, with a genuine smile. "I'm so pleased." She seemed glad of the change as well. "It was a great surprise, but a very welcome one."
Dar cleared her throat gently.
Kerry forced her eyes open to see the raised brows. "Brian proposed to my sister. Angie was as freaked out as you were when I proposed to you."
Dar produced a big grin at that. Then she glanced up at Cynthia. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Cynthia said, taking a deep breath. "Well, I'm glad these things worked themselves out. I believe I must go back and meet with my colleagues, and then perhaps we might attend a working dinner with the vice president."
"By then we'll be home." Kerry exhaled. "Thank god."She turned her head and opened one eye. "Hope it turns out okay for you."
"And a safe trip to both of you as well." Cynthia concluded. "I'm sure we'll be speaking, Kerry. Angela has told me she wishes you to stand with her at the wedding."
Kerry nodded. "I told her absolutely," she said, getting a smile from her mother. "I'm really happy for her."
"As am I." Cynthia stood up. "Hope you feel better soon, Kerry.I'm sure you're well taken care of here." She gave Dar a nod. "And it was nice meeting you, Mr. McLean. Thank you for explaining things to me."
"My pleasure."Alastair was still sitting quietly in his chair. "Nice meeting you too."
Cynthia gave them all a wave and turned, making her way out of the room.
Dar gently buttoned up her partner's shirt and settled her arm protectively over Kerry's middle again. "Take a nap, champ," she told her obviously groggy companion. "I'll wake you up when it's time for us to leave."
"Gotta--" Kerry muttered. "Damn this stuff's kicking my butt."She gave in to the desire to sleep, as Dar's fingertips g
ently massaged her temples. "Dar, I'm gonna have to come up with something more radical."
"Huh?"
"I'm outta things to shock my mother with."
Dar chuckled faintly, and that was the last thing Kerry remembered before she let the room slip away.
Chapter Eighteen
CYNTHIA CROSSED THE lobby of the building and approached the front door. She paused, when she spotted Andrew Roberts entering. "Oh, Commander." She waved at him.
The tall ex-seal altered course and intercepted her. He had two overnight bags slung over his shoulder. "Lo."
"I just wanted to bid my farewell to you," Cynthia said. "I assume you are heading home as well."
"That's true." Andrew glanced around. "You want a cup of coffee fore you go? Ah just saw pictures of them people back at the exchanged and it's crazy there."
Cynthia hesitated, and then she nodded. "I could use a cup of coffee," she admitted. "There's a nice café, will you join me?"
"Sure." Andrew followed her over to one of the seats and they took over one of the tables in the little café to one side of the lobby. It was before lunchtime, so it was still quiet, and a waitress scooted right over to them when she saw them sit down.
Andrew set the bags down and exhaled. "Biggest cup of coffee you got," he told the girl, who nodded.
"Do you have tea?" Cynthia asked. "I'd prefer that, please."
"Sure, be right back." The waitress left, still scribbling.
"You look tired, Commander. I know it must have been a long week for you as well."
"Yeap," Andrew admitted. "Ah will be glad to get home to mah wife and mah boat, I will tell you. I do not regret coming here to help the kids out, but ah will be very happy to see that there airplane shortly."
"I do understand." Cynthia commiserated. "I didn't want to come here, you know. I wanted to stay in Michigan, dealing with the issues we have there. But I was told it would be highly unpatriotic if I did not come to support the city, so I did."
Andrew snorted. "Patriotism. Most these people round the gov'mint don't know how to even spell that word less what it means."
Cynthia studied him. "It's so interesting that you say that." She looked up as the waiter arrived, and deposited their drinks. "May I also have, perhaps, a tuna on croissant?"