With that done, she opened the screen to her laptop and started it up, leaning back in the chair as she waited for it to boot. Since it was in the middle of the night back at the office, she really didn't expect there to be much mail but you never knew, and anyway, sometimes Maria forwarded her unintentionally funny jokes she'd come to enjoy.

The room was pleasantly cool, and she felt a sense of contentment as she watched some birds fly past outside the window, turning her head back only when her laptop beeped wanting attention. She keyed in her password and let it continue starting up her secured session to the office.

Mark had found them biometric laptops. They had a scanner attached that took fingerprints. Dar had tried one for a period of a week and ended up almost tossing it off the balcony on the 14th floor as the technology was just not ready for her.

Either that or she had weird fingerprints. Mark swore it worked for him. They were going to try retinal scanners next, but she figured if the stupid thing couldn't even read her index finger, they had scant chance of being able to read her eyeball.

"Technology sucks sometimes," she informed her laptop. "It's never where we want it to be, is it?"

The laptop bleeped back at her.

"Shut up." Dar leaned forward and reviewed her mail. As expected, there was nothing too urgent and she picked through them with casual interest, pausing to smile at a forwarded picture of a sunbathing cat from Kerry, and to shake her head at yet another request from Mariana for people to stop cooking fish in the building.

"Ah." She saw another one from the Mariana, and opened it. It was the softball team lineup, listing Kerry as captain and laying out the game schedule. She reviewed it, nibbling her lip as she realized they'd only be back from Europe a few days before the opening night. "Hm."

Mariana had told everyone that winning wasn't as important as participating. Dar understood that intellectually, but she knew full well that no one wanted to lose, least of all her, and really least of all her curiously competitive partner.

So. She opened a message and addressed it to Mark.

Hey. Make sure everyone shows up for those practice games since we'll be out here. I don't want to look like a jerk when we play the first one.

D

She reviewed it then sent the mail. That left the problem of when she and Kerry were going to practice, and she frowned. Maybe getting involved in the softball thing when they were traveling wasn't the best idea.

On one hand, she figured she could probably handle a game without much preamble, trusting what she thought of as a reasonable set of athletic skills and a cursory memory of the sport to carry her through.

Kerry, however, though she had good reflexes and could handle her body, really had nothing to go by in terms of knowing what to do in the game, and Dar had gone and volunteered her as captain.

"That was idiotic," she remarked to herself.

A knock came at the door, and she left the problem to sit as she went and answered it, letting in the room service waiter complete with a little wooden cart full of her selected breakfast. She signed the check and handed it back, then sat down as the waiter left and closed the door.

In the midst of opening her cereal box, her cell phone rang. Dar cursed, launching herself over the bed to the nightstand where the device was rattling, and grabbing it. She opened it and managed to get it to one ear without falling off the bed, but without time to see who it was. "Yes?"

"Hey honey."

Dar stuck her tongue out and stifled a laugh. "Hey."

"You okay? You sound weird."

"I'm upside down." Dar squirmed into a more comfortable position and relaxed. "What are you doing up? It's late."

"I can't sleep," Kerry told her. "You're not here in bed with me."

Dar chuckled. "Sorry about that. I didn't realize you had me on speaker until it was too late."

"No problem I absolutely loved having my brother and sister hear what you said to me. Angie said we sounded so married."

"Aw."

"So how's it really going? I almost threw peas at my mother here. She finally stopped with the snarky BS about halfway through dinner."

"It's fine." Dar assured her. "I was pissed off about the bar, but that's no one's fault. I'm looking forward to the meeting at ten. You got more packing to do?"

"Yeah," Kerry agreed mournfully. "Then we're going over to the house and haul everything in there. I'm having fun with Ang and Mike, but boy I'm not looking forward to hanging out with my mother."

"Want me to invent a disaster for you to fix?"

"You keep teasing me with that offer," Kerry reminded her dryly. "Don't jinx us, hon. We're both out of the office and we don't really need something to crash, y'know?"

"Mm."

"We'd just have to fly back to Miami and fix it."

"Hm." Dar's low grunt grew far more cheerful. "We'd be in the same place then," she offered. "That can't be all bad, can it?"

Kerry laughed softly, for at least thirty seconds. "Let's see," she said. "It's been what-- two days now? That must be a record for us before we start whining about being apart. We're so nuts."

"But in a nice way."

Kerry was silent for a brief moment. "In a very beautiful way," she said. "Being with my mother, and my sister, and my brother, who is on his fourth girlfriend this year, made me realize all over again how blessed my life is."

Dar studied the ceiling, feeling a stupid grin stretch her lips. "You're better than Frosted Flakes for breakfast, you know that? Ah, Ker. Go back to sleep. You're going to be toast tomorrow if you don't and you'll end up going off on everyone."

Kerry made a small, grunting sound.

"Won't you?"

"Probably." Kerry sighed. "This bed's not comfortable, and I miss my dog, and I want some chocolate milk," she admitted. "And you're the only one I can say that to who won't look at me funny or tell me to grow the hell up."

Dar chuckled.

"I'm not sure I even know who these people are anymore," Kerry added. "I feel like I hardly know them."

"They hardly know you," Dar said. "Give it a few days. You sounded pretty rambunctious with them in the car."

A small silence. "Yeah, I guess I did. It's all right. I think I just keep freaking them out. "

Dar's eyes flicked over the ceiling, her sensitive ears catching the change in her partner's tone. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Just be who you are, Ker," Dar advised gently. "They'll get used to it. Don't be afraid to not pretend, you know?"

Kerry sighed. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of," she confessed. "It's hard to make everyone change the way they see me. It's easier for me to pretend I'm someone else. It always was," she paused, "but you know something, I don't think I can do it anymore."

"Would it help if I sent you flowers at your Mom's house?" Dar asked, with a hint of a wry chuckle. "You know I always get you the most expensive ones."

Finally, Kerry chuckled. "I can do this," she said. "I'll be fine. I just needed a Dar time out."

Talk about freaking out. "Anytime, sweetheart," Dar assured her. "I'll always be there for you." She heard the slight inhale, and the faint sound of Kerry swallowing. "Now go to bed, and let me eat my English Frosted Flakes and weird tasting milk for breakfast."

"I love you," Kerry replied, simply. "Talk to you later, okay?"

"Later." Dar hung up the phone and let it sit on her chest for a few minutes. Then she chuckled and got up, taking her box of cereal with her back to the tray. "Dar time out." She shook her head and poured the cereal into the waiting bowl. "And she thinks her life's changed."


Chapter Five

KERRY HUMMED SOFTLY under her breath as she neatly flipped a set of pancakes. A plate of omelets and bacon were already waiting nearby. She had her back to her sister's servants, aware of their nervous anxiety, and wondered briefly if they were more worried about her getting burned or if that she was auditioning for their jobs.

Not really much danger of either. She'd cooked long enough and often enough to know how to avoid getting hurt and even when she'd been younger and willing to take about any job, short order cook had never been in her personal horizon.

She didn't mind cooking for herself, or for Dar, or for family. Cooking for strangers, however, was another story especially after a night of little sleep and a morning full of gray rain outside. Her ears pricked, as she heard footsteps in the hall, and she caught the nervous jerks from the staff as they heard them as well.

"Wh...Kerry!" Angie entered, spotting her at the stove. "What in blazes are you doing?"

Kerry looked at the pan, then she turned her head and looked at her sister, then she looked back at the pan. "You have done this, Ang. I know you have. I used to live with you, remember? Don't tell me you never told these guys about those banana brownies you used to make."

Angie came over and peered over her bare shoulder. "You're cooking," she said, avoiding the brownie issue.

"I am," her older sister confirmed. "I said I was going to. You didn't believe me?" She scooped the last of the pancakes into their dish and covered it, and then turned off the gas to the stove. "I didn't get much sleep last night so I figured I'd better make something I liked for breakfast so I didn't whine all day."

Angie picked up one of the dishes, a bemused but understanding look on her face. She gave her staff a wry smile as she turned and headed after Kerry to the dining room. "Don't worry about my sister. She's just got a mind of her own."

"Got that right." Kerry set the plates she had in her hands down. "Well, good morning." She greeted her brother, who was rubbing both eyes. "Fine state of affairs when I'm the early bird in the family." She took a seat near one end of the big table, the warm light bathing her tanned arms very visible in her tank top.

"Pissant," Mike grumbled, sitting down across from her before he peered at Kerry, and jerked upright. "Holy shit. You did get a tattoo." He scrambled out of his chair and came around the table, as Kerry continued to calmly butter her toast. "Wow."

"Eat breakfast first, gawk later," Kerry advised him. "It's not going anywhere." She dumped some pancakes, an omelet, and a slice of bacon on her plate.

"Did it hurt?" Mike asked.. "What made you get it?"

Angie motioned the staff to bring coffee over. "I think it's pretty."

"Can I touch it?" Mike asked.

Kerry put her fork down and half turned to face Mike. "Sure." She moved the strap of her tank top over to give him a better view. "Yes, it hurt," she said, as he bent closer. "It hurt a lot, but it was worth it."

"Wow," he repeated, putting a finger out hesitantly and touching the design. "Oh," he said. "It feels like skin."

Angie appeared on her other side, running her thumb over it. "It is," she said, in surprise. "I thought it would be raised up, like those inoculations."

Kerry felt herself twitch a little as they touched her. "Well, when he first did it, it was kinda," she said. "It was pretty swollen."

"It was?" Angie looked up at her at close quarters, nearly making her eyes cross. "Is it like a burn?"

"It's--yeah, I guess," Kerry said. "I mean, they take needles and jab them into your skin over and over again, so it kind of gets all sore and puffy. But it heals pretty fast." She went on. "It stops hurting really bad as soon as they stop sticking needles in you."

Mike shook his head and went back to his seat. "You are totally crazy," he announced. "But it is really nice looking, Ker. Did Dar like it? She should. It's her name there."

Kerry went back to sorting out her breakfast. "She did. I think one of the reasons, maybe, that I got it was because I knew it was something I could do that she probably wouldn't."

"She doesn't like tattoos?" Angie eased away from her and went back to her place at the head of the table.

"She's scared to death of needles." Kerry responded, with a wry grin. "Don't you remember in the hospital?"

Angie's eyes widened, as she helped herself to the plates. "Oh my gosh. I do. That's right!" She gave the woman at her shoulder a nod, and sat back as coffee was poured into her cup. "She almost went crazy there before everything got horrible."