They cleaned up from the game, showering and changing from beach volleyball clothes into relaxed dress for a charity auction party that was being hosted in honor of the guests of the event.

As they entered into the hotel where the party was being held, they could hear the loud music from the ballroom before they even got close. There was no doubt it was going to be a long night.

“Ready?” Dylan asked as she straightened the collar on Cat?s polo shirt.

“Sure. Am I allowed to have a drink, Coach?”

“One, little one.”

“Is that a short joke?”

“Not unless you want it to be.”

“I need a really good nickname for you. Nothing like Stretch or Stilts?”

“Stilts?”

“Yeah,” Cat?s eyes narrowed playfully. “Way too overused. I?ll find something.”

“I?m sure you will.” Placing her hand gently in the small of the blonde?s back, she guided them toward the party. “Oh did you bring that envelope I asked you to grab at the house?”

Fishing it out of her back pocket she handed it to Dylan. “What is it?”

“We?re auctioning you off as a love slave.”

“You better plan on bidding high.”

“I don?t know if I can afford you.”

“Thanks.” Cat?s smile beamed as they entered the party and were immediately swallowed up by the crowd.

Dylan turned the key in the lock and pushed the door open for Cat. “Tired?”

“Dead on my feet. God, that was worse than any practice.”

“I?ll have to revamp my practice plan.”

“How about just forgetting I said that.” Cat slumped down on the couch, kicking, off her sneakers and rubbing her feet. “The other guys will kill me if they think you changed anything because of me.”

Dylan smiled, tossing her keys to the small table by the door. “Tea?”

“Perfect.”

As Dylan wandered off to the kitchen Cat got up and slowly followed, stretching sore tired muscles. “Who knew a pair of season tickets for the team would go for so much money? I think that?s great.”

“Well, it?s partly because of you. You?ve really helped turn the team around. I still think we would have gotten more if we?d auctioned you off.”

“Please.” Cat dismissed as she took a seat on a stool at the breakfast nook. “I did get hit on tonight.”

“I know.”

“How could you know? You were clear across the room. You got eyes in the back of your head or something?”

A dark brow arched, “How long have we been working together? You have to ask that question?”

“All right, so I?m using up my yearly allotment of stupid in one night. It?s been a long weekend.”

“Yeah it has,” she stepped closer and kissed Cat gently on the lips. “But it?s been one of the best of my life.”

Cat smiled, again, completely charmed. “Really? Thanks.”

“You?re welcome.”

“Besides, I kinda figured our little friend Hortensia was a little too busy undressing you with her eyes, mind, teeth, and assorted other bodyparts for you to even notice my fawning fans.” Cat grinned. “Old flame?”

Dylan snorted. “Hardly, though not for lack of trying.”

Cat shot her a look. “Not on your part, I hope.”

“Are you kidding? I?ve got standards, kiddo.”

“Whew! I hoped as much.” That earned Cat a smack to the belly, which she laughingly absorbed. “So, is it a story I want to hear?”

Dylan shrugged. “Not much of one, I?m afraid. She?s set herself up as the Holy Grail in the circle jerk we call Professional Dyke Drama.”

“Holy Grail?”

“Yup,” Dylan replied, sipping her water. “The ultimate prize to which every up and coming baby dyke in pro-sports wants to attain.”

“Ahh,” Cat said, nodding. “And you failed to show proper obeisance, and therefore committed a grave sin.”

“The gravest,” Dylan deadpanned.

“And your penance is being chased around by a gorgeous woman who wants to make love to you in a variety of ways.”

“Hey, some penances are harsher than others.” Dylan sobered. “Seriously, though, I?m just lucky she doesn?t try to out me. Though it would spell the end for her if she did. Too many of us are still closeted, and she knows that. It?s what keeps her bread buttered.”

“Damn,” Cat breathed. “I had no idea internal politics were so?so?.”

“Incestuous?”

“That?ll do for a start, yeah.”

“Eh,” Dylan shrugged again, “you get used to the drama after awhile. I just try to stay out of it all.”

“I think I?ll take that advice, thank you very much.”

The two shared a quiet laugh.

” Hey weren?t you supposed to call your folks?”

“Right. Can I?”

“Right there,” she pointed to the wall as she began steeping the tea. “Or there?s one in the living room if you want more privacy.”

“Privacy? With my folks, surely you jest.” Cat picked the cordless up and dialed the number, smiling when her mother answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mom, I?m making my promised call for the weekend.”

“And how is your weekend going sweetheart.”

Cat grinned like, well, the cat that ate the canary. “Dreamy.”

“That good. Well tell me all about it.”

“Nah, some things should never be said to your mother. Let?s just say that I?m having a great weekend.” She looked at Dylan and smiled. “One of the best of my life. Of course we still have the three on three to go.”

Dylan sat the tea on the counter for her companion then leaned against the opposite one as she sipped from her own steaming mug.

“The event has been great, we?ve already raised like forty thousand dollars or something.”

“Wonderful, when will you be home?”

“Day after tomorrow. Coach and I are going to kick their butts tomorrow before we head out.”

“Oh,” her mother paused in that ?motherly? way. “You?re with Coach Lambert?”

“Yeah, she had to stand in last minute.”

“Well then I?m sure you?re in good hands.”

It was all Cat could do to keep from one, choking on her tongue and two, bursting out laughing. “I?m fine Mom. We?re having a great time.”

“When are you coming home for a visit?”

“In a couple weeks I hope. I should have a break when I can slip in for a day or two. Listen I need to go, give dad and the heathens my love.”

“Love you Catherine, be good.”

“Love you too Mom. Bye.”

Cat hung up the phone and slowly turned to Dylan. “We?ll she said she?s sure I?m in good hands with you.”

“Truer words were never spoken.”

“And she told me to be good.”

“So much for my plans for the rest of the evening.”

“Now wait just a minute. I can still be,” she paused and flashed a seductive smile. “Good. She did not define what kind of good.”

“Oh I like the way you think.”

Cat was lying in Dylan?s arms, absolutely, completely, and totally satisfied. She was right on the verge of slipping into a very content sleep when she realized that Dylan wasn?t relaxing the way she had hoped.

“What?s wrong?”

“Huh? Oh nothing, just thinking.”

“About tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“Nervous?”

“No, I don?t think so.”

Cat rose up and looked at her lover. “You don?t think so? What kind of answer is that? Come on, it?s me. Be honest.”

“It?s not so much that I?m nervous nervous. I?m just hoping that my knee will hold and I won?t dump myself on my ass in front of ten thousand people.”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, definitely not that, though I?ll admit to wondering if I?ll come off as rusty as I feel.”

“This from the woman who runs us ragged during practice?”

Dylan chuckled, pulling the blonde back down and kissing the top of her head. “Big difference between running you losers ragged and stepping back out on the court in front of ten thousand screaming maniacs.”

“Then just pretend you?re running your losers ragged. Is there anything I can do to help? You know I?ve got your back on this or I wouldn?t have asked you to play with me.”

“You?ve got a lot of faith.”

“You know it. You are the best female basketball player I have ever seen. Let alone had the privilege to work with. You are the best. I hope at the end of my career, I can say I was half as good as you. We are going to go out there tomorrow and kick their ever loving butts.”

“Oh man you are so good for my ego.”

“That?s nice to know, but that has nothing to do with it, Dylan. You are so talented and such a wonderful person I don?t know how you can even be sweating this.”

Dylan sighed, then shook off the momentary blues. “Just chalk it up to pre-game jitters.”

“You?!?”

“I am human, Cat,” Dylan replied, laughing softly. “Even the Goddess has been known to blow her breakfast before a really big game.”

“You know, that?s not exactly the image I want to have of my hero,” Cat teased.

“And you, Ms Nerves of Steel, never once were anything but cool as a cucumber before a championship game.”

“Well?”

“Thought so.”

This brought a grin to Cat?s lips as she rubbed her hand over Dylan?s stomach. “So are you sleepy?”

“With that hand roaming around like that, are you crazy?”

“Probably a little. I mean this is kinda crazy isn?t it. It could ruin us both.”

“It won?t. We won?t let it.” Dylan rolled over and smiled down at her lover. “I promise.”

No further words needed to be said.

The morning had dawned clear and bright, and Kimberly McKessin was about as high as it was possible to get without benefit of illegal substances. Chosen as one of the top ten fund raisers for this year?s charity games, Kimberly had drawn the Badgers out of a hat and had been quite content with the selection. Others had laughed at the stocky young woman, betting that she?d play all of one game before getting knocked out of the tournament by any one of the “better” teams participating.

And then they had announced Chaney?s injury.

And her replacement.

And the laughing stock had, overnight, become the envy of the neighborhood. Oh, the offers they?d tried to tempt her with when they?d learned; offers that made the shy young woman blush, then redden with a different sort of emotion when she heard them whispering behind their hands that she?d somehow known, that she?d rigged a game she wasn?t even sure she wanted to participate in. She?d held her tongue, though, as was her wont, and faced her tormenters with a serene smile that made them question her mental acuity.

Inside, though, was a different story. Inside, she was screaming and laughing and dancing a jig to shame the most devout Irish lad. Not only was she being given the chance to play beside her favorite active player, Catherine Hodges, but now?The Goddess. She?d pinched herself several times since the announcement, and her bruises were the proof that she wasn?t dreaming.

And now, finally, was the day of reckoning. The day she would finally get to live out her dreams.

She looked down at her belly as it made an ominous rumbling noise. Her face paled, and with a mumbled “shit!”, she turned and ran for the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Dylan wiped her mouth with the corner of the towel slung over her shoulder.

“I thought you only did that before big games,” Cat commented, trying to quell a smirk that was just begging to form at the corners of her mouth.

“What? Brush my teeth?”

Cat?s smart return logjammed in her throat as Dylan flung the towel away, giving the younger woman a full, glorious view of her lover in tight black spandex. The nearly knee-length biker-style pants rode smooth on Dylan?s heavily muscled thighs, and the vision started up a steel drum band in Cat?s chest.

“Earth to Cat,” Dylan said, laughing. “You in there, darlin?”

“I?.” With difficulty, Cat swallowed through the desert that had taken up residence in her mouth. She lifted her eyes, only to be confronted with Dylan?s black sports bra covered chest. “Um?.” She blinked. “Do we have something we?re supposed to be doing today?”

Dylan?s laughter richened as she closed the distance between them and gathered Cat into a warm hug before separating just enough to place a very sexy kiss on her lover?s delicious lips. “Unfortunately, we do. Although?” Her eyes brightened as she bent slightly, and before Cat knew it, she was cradled in two very powerful arms. “It occurs to me that I?ve neglected to teach you some very important pre-game rituals.”

Lesson time was on, and this particular student proved to be a very apt, and interested, pupil.

“Dylan?”

“Mmm?” Dylan didn?t look up as she fiddled with the new brace on her knee. Longer, tighter, and more complicated than the one she?d worn during the volleyball tournament, she knew it would take a good bit of getting used to. To be truthful, though, the brace wasn?t what was keeping her eyes from her partner. No, that would belong to the fact that if she looked up and saw Cat?s sleepy, languid form just barely hidden by the sheet she?d thrown over the smaller woman, there would be more than five thousand pissed off fans and one outraged boss calling for her head, because they?d never make the tournament.