“Thanks.” Dar took the scrubs and tried to figure out what to do next.

Her mind was slowing down, she realized, as the problems of getting Kerry out of the hospital safely weighed down on her shoulders.

She hadn’t really gotten past what to do after she got in here, mostly because she had no idea what the layout was, or the possibilities. Maybe she could pull the fire alarm…or, was that a water pressure pipe in that other alcove?

“Excuse me.” The nurse touched her arm. “Listen, can I ask you a big favor, since you’re stuck here for a little while anyway?”

“Huh?” Dar broke off her planning and turned to the woman. “Sorry, sure.”

“I’d like to run down and grab a sandwich from the cafeteria, can you just listen for this phone?” She pointed at it. “If it rings, just answer Third Floor and take a message.”

“Uh…well, sure, of course, no problem,” Dar assured her, working hard to keep an incredulous grin off her face. “Go on, we’ll be here another…uh, thirty minutes at least, that load’s taking longer than I thought.”

Nurse Archer beamed at her. “You’re the best.” She ducked out from behind the desk again. “Can I bring you back a sandwich? They have turkey on a croissant today and some tomato soup.”

“No, no, we’re fine. Thanks.” Dar waved at her. “Take your time.”

The doors to the elevator slid closed behind her white butt, and they looked at each other. “Well.” Dar rubbed her nose. “You stay here and listen for the phone, and I’ll go get Kerry.” Unable to quite believe her good luck, Dar trotted down the hallway to her lover’s door and punched in the code, having the handle practically taken out of her hand by an impatient blonde.

“Hey!”

“I was starting to get nervous,” Kerry whispered. “I thought maybe you got into trouble.”


430 Melissa Good Dar leaned forward and kissed her on the lips, letting her touch linger a bit. “I am trouble,” she purred into the shorter woman’s ear. “Here.” She handed Kerry the scrubs, which came complete with little booties. “It’s not chic, but it’ll get you the hell out of here.”

Kerry took the bundle and examined it with interest. “Hmm, I always wanted a set of these. This wasn’t the way I’d have chosen to get them, though.” She opened the packages and shook out the white garments, stripping off her uncomfortable hospital gown and slipping into the drawstring pants. “Yeesh.” She tugged on the waist strings to make them fit, and ended up tying a big bow, while Dar knelt and did the same for the ankles. “That’s better, at least I won’t trip on them,” Kerry muttered as she pulled on the shirt, settling it around her body. “Well, that’s not too bad.”

Dar smiled, then stood up and pulled a comb out of her pocket and ran it through Kerry’s disheveled hair. “So, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was Thanksgiving?”

That got a weak laugh from the blonde woman. “Oh, lots of relatives, lots of bullshit. I got to make nice with Brian and see some of my uncles and aunts I haven’t seen in a while.” She paused. “Now I guess I won’t ever again,” she concluded softly. “Dar, he’s not going to just let go of this.”

“Leave that to me,” her partner responded in a crisp, no-nonsense voice.

Kerry looked at her. “What does that mean?”

Dar finished her task and turned her lover towards the light. “You’ll do,”

she concluded. “It means that I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and I’d like you to just trust me to handle the situation.”

Warily, Kerry gazed at her. “You’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”Serious blue eyes studied her face. “Not here, not now…and it’s easier if I show you. When we get home, I’ll lay it all out for you, I promise.” She paused. “Will you trust me?”

Kerry looked her right in the eye for a long silent moment. “I trust you,”

she stated quietly. “Just…remember, Dar, whatever else he may be, he is my father.”

Dar patted her cheek. “I know.” She took a breath. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’m going to have you go downstairs with Jack. I’ll wait for the nurse to get back here, then join you. It would look strange if we left the floor unwatched, and I don’t want any alarms getting out.”

Kerry nodded. “Then what?”

Dar pondered. “Then I guess we go to your parents’ house to pick up your things,” she said.

“What? Dar, no, I don’t need that stuff. There is nothing there irreplaceable. I don’t want to go back there,” Kerry protested vehemently.

“Kerry…” Dar started to speak.

“No!” the green-eyed woman interrupted. “I can’t face them, not after this. Dar, don’t ask that of me, please.” She turned away, hugging herself.

“Can’t we just get out of here?” she whispered. “I’ll pay for the company laptop.”

Dar exhaled. “Okay, let’s go.” She walked forward and put an arm around Kerry’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, I’m so used to being so damn Tropical Storm 431

confrontational, I forget it’s not always the smartest thing to do.”

Kerry let herself be turned around, and they headed for the door. “What purpose would it serve anyway?”

“Just lets them know they didn’t beat you,” Dar replied quietly as she opened the door and gently ushered her lover out into the hall, checking first to make sure the coast was clear. “But that’s my pride speaking, and it’s kinda loud sometimes.”

Kerry looked over her shoulder at the frank admission and felt a tiny smile tugging at her lips. “That ‘in yer face’ gene again, huh?” She glanced around at the depressing hallway. “Uck, this place is disgusting.”

They came around the corner and spotted Jack’s lonely figure, casually slumped against the desk as he waited. He saw them and straightened, then smiled as they came closer. “Hi.” He gave Kerry a tentative smile. “You must be Kerry.”

She held a hand out. “And you must be Jack. It’s nice to meet you.”

Dar went around behind the desk and started rooting through drawers.

She came to a locked one, then glanced at the counter. “Nice nurse.” She grabbed the set of keys the woman had left and unlocked the drawer, pawing through it. “Ah.” A set of hospital badges, all with little Post It notes on them.

“Let’s see…” She studied them. “Terminated, terminated, quit, terminated, deceased, terminated… Admitted?” She peered at that one. “Hmm. Ah…” She pulled one out from the stack and handed it to Kerry. “Clip that on, the picture’s close enough.”

Kerry did so. “Now what?”

Dar relocked the drawer and put the keys back down. “Okay, you two take the elevator there down and just walk out the front door. Kerry, you pretend you’re just walking him out, okay?”

The blonde was recovering her composure. “It would be more realistic if I was hitting on him.” She glanced at the blushing Jack. “He’s cute.”

“Fine.” The executive chuckled wearily. “Once you get out there, just wait for me, okay?”

They both nodded. “What are you going to do?” Kerry asked predictably.

“Discharge you.” Dar smiled piratically. “I like things neat. Get going.”

She paused. “Jack, take my laptop, okay?”

He nodded. “Gotcha. See you downstairs.” He retrieved the case and left, guiding Kerry towards the elevator. At the doors, the blonde woman turned and met Dar’s watching eyes.

“Be careful.”

Dar smiled. “You, too.” She watched the doors close, then she turned her attention to the task at hand.

THE RIDE DOWN the elevator was quiet, and Kerry restlessly ran her fingers through her hair, fidgeting until the doors opened at the bottom floor and they got out. Ahead of them, a single guard was seated at the reception desk, leaning on his elbows. He glanced up as he saw them, and a big smile crossed his face.

“Hey, hear you guys saved the day! Way to go, man!”


432 Melissa Good Jack waved. “Yeah, it was a chewed-up wire, but we got things going again. I’m just going to put my stuff away.” He hefted the briefcase. “Boss is upstairs making sure things finish okay for you guys.”

“Great, great. Listen, can we get you a pop or something?” The guard’s eyes flicked over Kerry and dismissed her.

“Nah, we’re just wanting to get to the motel, and get some sleep. Been a hell of a long day.” He started to move past the desk. “Glad it all worked out.”

“Which hotel they got you at?” the guard asked in friendly interest. “I know most of the good happy hours around here.”

Jack was at a loss. “Um…”

“Didn’t you say the Marriott Courtyard? It’s about a half mile from here,”

Kerry interjected casually. “That’s where you said we could get a drink later.”

“Whooo, they put you up at the good places.” The guard laughed. “And you got an invitation on top if it. Well, g’night. And thanks again.” He glanced once more at Kerry, then went back to the magazine he’d been reading.

They passed through the front hall and exited the building. “Brr.” Kerry sighed. “These scrubs are not meant for November in Saugatuck.”

Jack glanced around as they crunched down the gravel path. “Thanks for saving my butt in there. I’ve got no damn idea what hotels there are around this place. Hell, I don’t even know where I am. Dar got us here.” He glanced around. “Once we get past the front gate, I’ll give you my jacket, okay?”

Kerry nodded but kept silent, feeling the cold, hard ground through the thin surface of her booties. They came even with the front gate, and the guard inside looked up. Kerry waved at him, and he waved back, then he waved even harder at Jack.

Jack smiled. “I feel like a goddamned messiah,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. “I haven’t gotten this kind of a greeting since we liberated Kuwait.” He glanced at the beaming guard. “He doesn’t even realize he doesn’t know you, does he?” The gate slowly opened in front of them, and they started to pass through.

Kerry snorted softly. “There’s a lot of Dutch and Germans settled in this area—blonde, white women are a dime a dozen, trust me. He probably sees twenty people who look like me every day.” They passed out of the light cone around the guardhouse, and finally, Kerry felt her guts start to relax a little as she heard the metal lock close shut behind her.

She was free. She was out of the worst situation she’d ever been in, and she mostly felt like finding a warm spot and just curling up into it and crying.

It was dark around them now, and Jack stripped off his jacket and set it around her shoulders. “Thanks.” She nodded gratefully to him. “I know I owe you a big thank you for helping Dar get here, however that happened.”

He chuckled a little as they came up to the military car, in dark blue, and he unlocked the door for her. “I’d do just about anything for her. We’ve been friends since we were kids. She saved my ass once, after we built a treehouse out in a ficus that overhung a sinkhole.”

He waited for her to slide in, then he closed the door and got in on the other side. “My dad told me not to, but I was pretty damn stubborn, and I did anyway. I was putting the final railing on when I lost my step and fell over the edge, with nothing between me and the bottom of that damn sinkhole except Tropical Storm 433

Oh-Two.” He exhaled. “My belt caught on a branch nub, and there I was, hanging like a stuffed pig on Christmas, yelling my head off.”

Kerry muffed a slightly hysterical laugh. “Oh no.”

“Yep. Next thing I know, Dar’s there, and she manages to get a rope tied off and around her, then she climbs down next to me and helps me get up onto the next branch. So then we both lose our balance and fall, and she’s hanging on to me and tied to that rope—so I figure we’re both toast.”

“Oh no!” Kerry’s eyes widened.

“Yep, but she’s stronger than all hell, if you know what I mean, even then, when we were little. So she manages to get her body twisted round, and I can grab onto the branch and pull myself up. Then she gets up next to me, and we were all right.”

“Whew.” Kerry blew out a breath. “Then what happened?”

He gave her a wry glance. “She slugged me for being so damned stupid.”

Kerry burst into laughter, clamping a hand over her mouth quickly. “Oh, god. I’m sorry, that’s not funny,” she apologized.

“Sure it is.” Jack laughed. “It’s Dar all over.”

The blonde woman sighed. “Yeah, I think I can see that, even though I’ve only known her for a little while.” Her eyes flicked to Jack’s. “She’s a brave woman.”

He smiled at her “She’s a brave human,” he corrected her. “She’s the best friend and the worst enemy you could possibly want to have. She never backs down, and she’s always there if you need her to be.”