"There is no story," Kerry countered. "I'm just doing my job. Taking care of my customers. You should be asking the county why they aren't doing what I did."

"Maybe you're just smarter than all of them." Ben smiled.

Kerry hiked an eyebrow at him.

Ben studied her, then grinned a little. "Flattery doesn't do you, huh?"

"Buddy...the pond I come from, you wouldn't even register as a goldfish," Kerry told him. "So, if you don't mind--I'm going to close up shop here and go find myself a nice hot shower, and someplace relatively cool to sleep."

Ben laughed. "Oo...now, Ms. Stuart, is that a way to treat the press?"

"No." Kerry's eyes twinkled slyly. "But I don't have anywhere to hide the body here, and it's too hot anyway. So you lucked out."

The reporter laughed. "Okay, I get the message."

"Good. My can of spray paint's in the back of my partner's car. Hate to have to go get one just for you."

Ben laughed harder. "Ms. Stuart, please. When this crazy nuthouse city gets back to normal..."

"You mean it's not?"

"When the power comes on," Ben clarified. "Could you please sit down and let me interview you? I've gotten a really one-sided perspective of the...well, the competition. I'm seeing a different story here than I was led to believe originally."

Hm. "Okay," Kerry agreed. "Sure. If the power's not on tomorrow, the meeting Quest called will be canceled anyway unless he wants to have it in our offices. So...why not?"

It would be a good opportunity to maybe put a screw in Michelle's plan, and turn the tables a little. "Here's my card." She handed over one from her wallet. "Give me a call."

Ben eagerly squirreled away the card. "Boy, that was easier than I thought it would be."

Kerry gave him a wry look. "Good night." She circled around him and went over to the truck, resting one hand on the edge of the deck. "How's it looking, guys?"

"Lot better than it did when we started." The younger of the techs noted. "Ma'am, you rock."

Mark chuckled.

Kerry just grinned. "Well for the record, you all rock too, and not only I think that. Dar wanted me to tell everyone how much she appreciates the effort that was put in here tonight. She's about to go into a board meeting, and you just made her evening a lot more pleasant.

"Wheew." Mark whistled. "Hey, you should get the credit, Kerry. We just did the grunt work."

"It's all a team." Kerry shook her head. "Mark, can you get some people to take turns watching this, and keeping the generators going all night?"

"Already done." Mark rocked up and down on his heels. "I got twelve guys lined up, three guys every four hours. First bunch's due here in like, ten minutes then these guys can beat ass home."

"Good." Kerry looked around into the dark areas surrounding them. "Do we need security?" She lowered her voice. "I can have Matt send some guys over from the office. It's going to be a long night."

"Yeah," Mark agreed. "Good idea."

Kerry stepped away a little and took out her cell phone, glad the ordeal was, for her, almost over. Then another thought occurred to her and she cursed silently, waiting for the line to connect. It did, and she spoke briefly to the security supervisor on duty, then disconnected and called a different number.

"Hey, John? It's Kerry Stuart. How are...ah." Kerry could hear the chaos on the other end. "Ferries not running, huh?" She exhaled, listening to the man's exasperated tone. "Okay, well, thanks." She closed the phone and sighed. "Well, poo."

"What's up, boss?" Mark stuck his head around the corner of the truck. "No security?"

"No, they're on their way over." Kerry sighed. "But I just realized I have no way to get home. Our ferry ramps are shut down. They're getting the one island side on the generator but the one on the causeway end is dead in the water." She paused. "Literally."

"Yow."

"Yeah. Maybe I'll go sleep on the beach...and poor Chino." Kerry frowned. "Rats, rats, rats and fruit bats."

Well, there was always a hotel. Kerry gave the side of the truck a slap. "C'mon, Mark. I'll drop you back by the office for your car. Sorry about the bike."

"Couldn't have given it to me anyway." Mark climbed down out of the back of the vehicle and joined her. "Garage doors won't open."

Hm. Kerry booted a rock out of her way as they headed for the Lexus. Power outages were much, MUCH more fun when Dar was around.

Otherwise, they were just one big pain in the poot.

A FIRE ENGINE woke Dar up. She sat up in a confusion of dark strangeness, streetlights splashing an unfamiliar pattern across the sheets covering her as she spent a moment remembering where she was. The howl of the siren peaked outside, then slowly faded, piercing through the closed windows effortlessly.

Other sounds intruded after it. A chugging rumble, followed by a crash of metal against metal, some garbage truck, maybe. Then the soft, far off sound of a jackhammer.

Another siren, blaring suddenly to life almost under the window, loud and frightening, and much slower to fade.

"Damn." Dar hiked herself up and leaned back against the headboard, raking her fingers through her hair to move it out of her eyes as she waited for her heartbeat to settle back down. The darkness outside reassured her she hadn't overslept her travel alarm, but now that she was wide awake she doubted she could take advantage of the remaining time to fall back asleep.

At least not without Kerry there. Dar reached for the television remote and shifted to a cross-legged position as she flipped the button on to check the news.

Kerry wasn't a break of dawn person, Dar had discovered. Given her own natural preference, her partner preferred to let bright sunlight wake her up, long after Dar normally would be rambling around the condo.

Living together meant they'd had to learn to compromise.

As it turned out, they both enjoyed a morning cuddle, and slowly they'd adjusted their personal body clocks to allow that, plus their runs, plus time to get ready for work without making it to the office too disgracefully late every day.

Sharing a shower helped. Dar grinned slightly. Though occasionally that backfired and threw their schedule off even more when they got the giggles and lost track of time while playing around with each other, indulging in the open sensuality between them.

Natural to them now, but she could remember a time when Kerry had been far shyer, still unsure of herself and far from confident in her attractiveness at the very start of their relationship together.

"A beach party?" Kerry circled one denim-covered knee with both arms and rested her chin on it. "I don't know, Col..." She glanced over at Dar, who was sprawled on the couch in Kerry's apartment, flipping through a Linux magazine. "We're sort of busy..."

Dar looked up. "What kind of beach party?" she asked. "Laying on the sand getting fried, or something that involves volleyball and barbeques?"

Colleen hesitated, a little doubtful of her friend's newest friend. "Ah...more to the second, I'm thinking."

Dar looked at Kerry, raising her eyebrows inquisitively. "You up for it? I can do the beach."

Kerry was silent for a minute, then she nodded. "Sure," she agreed. "Um...we'll bring the drinks?"

"Great." Colleen patted the couch arm, then she got up and scooted out the door. "See you at Crandon, in two hours."

The door closed. Kerry frowned slightly, then released her knee and straightened. "Okay, well...I think I have extra towels here."

Dar got up and walked over to her, settling next to her on the loveseat. "You didn't sound really stoked about the party."

"Um...no, it's fine. I like the beach," Kerry said. "Really." But there was a furrow in her brow that even Dar could clearly discern. "And the guys here at the complex are really nice." She got up. "We've had...um...a few of these sort of parties." The window seemed to fascinate her, and she walked over to stare out of it, her back toward Dar.

"Uh huh." Dar studied her new partner. "Seems like a nice crowd. A little on the young, yuppie, gym-addicted side, but all right." She watched Kerry's eyes shift briefly across the room to the mirror and her own reflection then back. A thought occurred to her. "You embarrassed to show off your new girlfriend?"

Kerry turned all the way around and looked at her, eyes widening perceptibly. "What?"

Dar shrugged.

"N...no!"

"So?"

"So...what?" Kerry answered hesitantly.

Dar felt an uncomfortable sense of awkwardness. "I got the feeling..." She saw Kerry's hands tense. "That maybe you didn't want to go there."

"Oh." The blond woman walked back over and crouched next to Dar, resting a hand on her knee. "Well, no.. it's just that I've never been much of a...um..." She exhaled. "You're right. Most of the folks that live here are really buff and into looks and I..."

"Don't want to upstage them?" Dar inquired mildly. "Doesn't surprise me. You're a lot nicer than I am."

Kerry lifted her eyes and stared at Dar, caught speechless for several very long moments. "What?"

"What what?" Dar responded.

"What do you mean upstage?" Kerry added a short, hesitant laugh. "Maybe you upstage people. I don't." Her eyes dropped to the carpet and stayed there. "Maybe I don't want to embarrass you."

It was like a door opening up into a place she'd never seen before. Dar had to wonder just what Kerry saw when she looked at herself in the mirror.

Well. Dar certainly knew what she saw when she looked at Kerry, and so rather than waste time on words, she slid off the couch and knelt beside Kerry, gently capturing her face in both hands and lifting it so their eyes made contact. "Kerry?"

Those big, green eyes were so trusting. "Yes?"

"Don't be a jackass," Dar said, smiling in reflex at the expression on her lover's face. "You're everything I want in a woman. You care about anyone else's opinion?" The skin under her fingertips warmed as a blush colored Kerry's face, making her pale eyebrows stand out vividly. "Hm?"

Kerry remained frozen in place for the next several heartbeats. Then she hesitantly lifted her hands and let them rest on Dar's waist, leaning forward a little as a look of shy, wondering delight grew in her eyes. "Nu uh."

Dar drew her closer and kissed her. "So let's go to the beach," she whispered in one still pink ear. "And scandalize your neighbors."

Kerry didn't answer. She put her arms around Dar and squeezed her as hard as she could, robbing Dar of breath, but delivering a message as loudly as yelling would have.

Boy. Dar enjoyed a moment of utter giddiness. Being in love sure was a lot more fun this time around.

Yeah, it sure was. Dar rested her chin on her fist. Being in love with Kerry had brought her more joy than she'd ever considered possible, and that, she acknowledged silently, was what was messing her up so badly right now.

What if it all vanished?

Dar knew there were no guarantees in life. She also knew that sometimes, bad things happened, like what had happened to her mother when they were told her father had been lost on a mission. But losing Daddy in that way had been totally different than if he'd just walked out of their lives.

She didn't expect that of Kerry. Her partner had proven to her more times than she could count her dedication to their relationship. But knowing that didn't stop her from being scared anyway, and Dar wasn't really sure what to do about how she felt.

Well. She studied the screen, waiting for any news from home. It would probably pass, if she just chilled out for a while. She'd gotten past it at the very start of their relationship, after all. Her eyes followed the scrolling marquee, and she winced as it reported the power outage still continuing. "Crap."

With a grunt, she rolled over and retrieved her PDA from the nightstand, flipping it open and scanning the screen. Not unexpectedly, there were several notes waiting. She clicked on the first one.

Whine.

Dar, I haven't slept in my car since the night of my high school prom, and it was a heck of a lot cooler in Michigan than it is here. Can I come to New York?