Kerry returned from her impromptu bird watching and took a seat next to Dar, kicking her heels out a little listening as her sneakers squeaked a bit on the newly polished floor. "Nice weather," she commented.

"Mm," Dar agreed, with a nod.

"Hope they got caught in it." Kerry went on, in a mild voice.

"Your wish to the god of thunder's ears." Dar pointed through the window. "Nice work."

Kerry peered through the rain-streaked glass to see Shari and Michelle running awkwardly through the rain to get to the door from the parking lot. "Heh," she chuckled. "Must be tough running in those heels."

"Mmhm," Dar agreed. "Must be."

The two reached the doors and entered, their smart and well-fitted business suits spotted with rain, which also glistened in droplets on every square inch of them. Both shook their hands in disgust as they looked around.

"Hi." Kerry waved. "Over here!"

Dar waited for them to walk over before she uncrossed her legs and stood. "Morning," she greeted them briefly. "Dining room's that way."

She turned and headed for the steps, clearly expecting them to follow.

"Good morning," Michelle greeted Kerry in a polite tone. "Lovely weather." She glanced at Shari, who merely started off after Dar. After a second she started walking as well, and Kerry fell into step next to her. "So, is this where you start the good cop, bad cop routine?"

"Hm?" Kerry cocked her head. "What routine?"

Michelle shook her head and snorted. "Never mind." She exhaled. "Looks like the convention's going to start on time, if anyone comes in this mess, that is."

"I think they will," Kerry said. "But in any case, the people who we really want there are already here, and with this weather, they're really more likely to attend the con than skip out and go to the parks. So it works in our favor."

Michelle glanced at her, and then made a small sound of grudging agreement. "So how are things otherwise?" she asked. "We tried to get into Vista, but I heard they signed a long term with you this year."

"True." Kerry motioned Michelle ahead of her as they reached the restaurant. Dar and Shari were already at the server's stand, waiting for them so they could be seated. "We were able to put most of their stuff up on our new net, and it meant a good cost savings for them if they signed now. So they did," she continued, as they followed a uniformed woman to a table near the front.

They sat down across from each other, Kerry neatly slipping in next to Dar as the woman handed them their menus. "Thanks." She let hers sit, already knowing what she was going to order.

And what Dar was going to order, for that matter. She watched Dar fiddle with her fork, and then she shifted and leaned forward, bringing her knee into contact with her partner's. "So, how are things with you?" she asked Michelle. "Are you having fun doing this start up?"

"It's been a blast," Michelle responded amiably. "Until this week, that is. I forgot how lousy the weather was here this time of year." She took her napkin and attempted to dry herself. "Or maybe I deliberately blocked it out of my memory."

"I've gotten used to it down south," Kerry said. "I remember the time I saw my first tropical thunderstorm I thought the world was ending."

Dar chuckled.

"But we have lots of plans for the future," Michelle concluded. "How about you?"

The waiter arrived and stood poised, a look of polite inquiry on his face. "Ma'am?" He addressed Michelle first. "Would you like to order?"

"I'd like to be put through the spin dry cycle," The short redhead answered. "But I'll take a continental, please," she added. "Coffee, wheat toast."

The waiter scribbled for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Shari. "Ma'am?"

"Juice and a bowl of whatever dry cereal you have," Shari answered shortly. "Skim milk."

Kerry folded her hands together on the table and made eye contact with the waiter as he looked inquiringly at her. She shifted her gaze to Dar's profile, and then looked back at him. "Two orders of French toast with crispy bacon, coffee, and two large glasses of milk, please."

The man beamed at her, and took the menus she handed over. "Be right back."

Dar leaned back and rested her elbows on her chair arms, steepling her fingers together, then folding them inward. "We have plans for the future as well," she allowed. "We've recently started development work on G2 of our net."

Shari frowned, but Michelle blinked and sat forward. "But you put it up only last year," she objected. "You can hardly have a baseline yet."

"We've got one," Dar replied. "I've projected out five years, and with current trends in applications development, I'll need a G2 in twenty four months at the very latest. We short wired some whole development cycles in firmware."

"Impressive." Michelle nodded, with a serious expression. "But if your projections come short, it could be an expensive white elephant."

Dar's expression remained relaxed. She flexed her fingers a little, the lights catching on the ring she wore on her third finger as they moved. "It's circular." She shook her head. "Right now, we've provided a pipe for some companies that allows them to triple their production cycles. That's speeding up their demand, which they'll come back to us for. No one else can do it right now."

"So your marketing hype says," Shari interjected. "But there's more to it than expensive hardware."

"The system capabilities aren't hype," Kerry said. "Or else the accounts of ours you targeted for conversion wouldn't have been the external and programming services ones. You didn't go after anyone with our infrastructure."

Shari looked over at Kerry, her eyebrows lifting slightly. Kerry gazed back at her with a mild expression. "Contracts are contracts," she countered. "We only started with those."

Dar chuckled. "And service is service. What's gonna happen the first time one of them calls you up and wants their contract expanded on the spot to new coverage, or they move to a different system that you don't have?"

"We can handle that," Shari answered quickly. "We've got the best people in the business...some of them were damn glad to come over from you, in fact."

"If they came from us, they weren't the best in the business." Dar let her chin rest on her fist. "We don't let the best go."

"Maybe they got tired of the same old same old then," Shari shot back. "We've got a whole new attitude about what we do. People like that."

Michelle took a breath and gave her companion a look. "Hey. We're supposed to be networking. Not boxing," she said. "Of course we picked certain arenas to compete in. We're not stupid," she added. "But we are in an expansion mode."

The waiter returned and poured their coffee, giving them all a moment's break. When he finished and left again, Shari leaned back. "Michelle's right," she conceded. "It's been a tough startup, and we're damn proud of the progress we've made."

Kerry stirred her coffee and took a sip. "Well, you can thank us for making it easier than it might have been," she spoke up. "A lot of accounts that I go in on the bid teams for, who've never worked with us are still not sure if women can handle IT, you know. The accounts you worked with already know we can."

Michelle and Shari exchanged glances. Shari tilted her head to one side, and her lips quirked. "Never really considered that," she allowed.

"Mm." Michelle nodded briefly. "That's a good point. I was on the other side for a long time, and I never had any doubts myself..." She chuckled self deprecatingly "But I remember sitting at intercompany seminars with lots of old boys who did."

"Yes." Kerry's lips tensed into a half smile. "I lived with one for many years." She rested her hand on the table, her wrist brushing Dar's crossed knee. "We've worked hard for what we've achieved too."

The waiter came back again, this time with a big tray. He placed their breakfasts down, then came to the front of the table and straightened up. "Anything else I can get for you right now?" he inquired. "Everything all right?"

Kerry inspected her plate of French toast, while Dar picked up her glass of milk and took a long swallow. "Looks great," she complimented the man. "Thanks." She picked up her fork and knife, cutting off a piece of the fragrant toast and dipping it neatly into some syrup before she put it into her mouth.

It was quiet for a few minutes, as everyone concentrated on eating. Dar typically sliced her toast into manageable squares then put her knife down, and selected the closest square to liberally drown in syrup.

"So you don't think we can compete with you on services?" Shari asked, after a long moment's silence. "I think you're wrong."

Dar glanced at her. Then she went back to eating. "You can think whatever you want."

Kerry took a sip of her milk. "We have contracts go other places all the time," she commented. "Everyone wants to get the best deal for their company, after all."

"Exactly," Shari agreed. "You can't compete with us on pricing."

"No." Kerry wiped her lips. "We don't disregard our pricing model."

"That's why we got all those accounts," Shari said. "So don't say we can't compete."

"You got those accounts because I allowed you to have them," Dar spoke up, keeping her attention on her French toast. "I was the one who elected not to counter bid. I don't undersell delivery."

Kerry glanced up, and caught a surprised look on Michelle's face, and a stunned one on Shari's. "Like I said, it happens all the time," she remarked. "We have another category of accounts we call rebounders." Her eyes twinkled a little. "So you better make sure you perform for those customers or you won't have them for long."

"We definitely know how to take care of our customers." Michelle recovered. "But listen, like I said, we're not here to box. We've got a lot in common, and there's no sense in us squabbling all the time."

Dar looked up from her plate, looked at Michelle, then at Shari, then exchanged glances with Kerry before she chuckled and went back to eating.

"Sounds good to me," Kerry said diplomatically. "I'm looking forward to the start of the convention. They have some interesting panels this year, don't they?"

"Always love those panels," Michelle grimly agreed. "Right Shari?"

"Yeah. Love 'em."

"THAT WASN'T VERY successful."

Dar leaned on the inner balcony, watching a bird fly across the inside of the huge lobby. "Not for them, no," she agreed. "But I sure had fun."

Kerry looped a finger into Dar's belt and tugged. "Let's go change, sweetheart. We're due at the convention in forty minutes." She turned and started walking, towing her taller companion behind her. "You know, Dar, I don't know that antagonizing those two was a really good idea."

Dar sighed aggrievedly. "Kerry I didn't antagonize them on purpose. I just answered the damn questions. Did you want me to lie?"

Kerry unlocked the door to their room and pushed it open. "I mean, I don't like them either, but we could have had a truce during the show. I don't really want to spend the next two days dodging darts."

"Yeah, I know." Dar trudged past her and kicked her sneakers off, pulling open the closet door to expose the neatly pressed business clothes hanging there. "Sorry." She pulled her T-shirt over her head and tossed it over the back of the nearby chair, unbuttoning her jeans with one hand, and sliding out of them.

Kerry leaned back against the dresser, watching her partner for a few minutes. She pushed off and walked over to her, pressing her cheek against Dar's bare shoulder for just an instant. She dropped a kiss on the same shoulder and slipped past Dar, drawing her fingernails along Dar's back as she headed for the bathroom.

Dar almost let her get out of reach, then at the last minute she extended one long arm and caught Kerry's sleeve.

Feeling the tug, Kerry stopped and half turned, her brows lifting in question. Her searching eyes found something in Dar's that made her walk back over and lean against her, waiting in silence as her partner's jaw muscles worked briefly.

After a little silence between them, Dar lifted one hand and gently traced the curve of Kerry's jaw, an unusually sad look on her face.

"What?" Kerry asked, in a low tone. "It's Shari, isn't it?"

Dar's lips twitched slightly. "It's idiotic," she replied. "I can't be nice to her, Kerry, no matter how I try to rationalize it."