Driven

“Dylan?”

Cat?s voice was more than frightened now. It contained a note of terror which mirrored the one thundering Dylan?s heart.

Reaching up as she forced her body back against the seats at her back, Dylan grabbed Cat behind the neck and forced the younger woman?s head between her own knees. “Stay down!” she shouted above the groaning and shrieking of tortured metal as the plane continued to drop. With the last of her energy, she forced herself to roll on top of Cat?s huddled, shaking form, cradling her as tightly and as closely as it was possible to get.

“I?m sorry,” she whispered.

Then all hell broke loose.

Dylan awoke, groaning softly at the abysmal pounding in her head. The groan turned into a sharp gasp of pain as she tried to wrench her badly jammed leg from beneath the decimated row of seats at her back. It was her bad leg, the one that had ended her playing days, and even during the worst of times, it had never hurt as badly as it was hurting now.

Taking several deep breaths to push herself past the pain, she wiggled her body as much as she was able, and finally freed her leg. The pain of blood suddenly returning to the limb almost caused her to pass out, but she hung on to consciousness grimly, instinctively knowing she was in more danger than a mere injured leg was telling her.

Realizing she hadn?t opened her eyes yet, she did so, and discovered that whatever had rattled her brains had also either struck her blind, or she was in pitch blackness. She bet?and prayed?on the latter.

Blinking several times, she pulled her left arm out from where it had been trapped beneath her body and felt around gingerly, hoping for a clue to her current situation. The very tips of her fingers brushed against several soft, silky strands, bringing with it the unmistakable scent of Cat?s shampoo. Her fingers traveled further until they encountered a warm, sticky residue that could only be one thing.

Blood.

Ignoring the sharp, piercing pain in her knee joint, Dylan scrambled back and into the aisle, then came forward slowly, feeling her way. A strong hand clamped on Cat?s unresponsive shoulder, and she gently pulled the woman upwards until she was sitting more or less upright. “Cat?” she whispered, shaking the shoulder in her hand. “Cat? Answer me, sweetheart. Please answer me.”

Still no response.

With less than steady fingers, Dylan felt blindly along Cat?s shoulder and up her neck until she pressed lightly against the pulsepoint. Her body sagged in relief as she felt the slow, strong and steady bounding of Cat?s heart.

“Ok,” Dylan said to herself. “This is good. This is very good.” She took a deep breath, considering her options. “Alright, Cat, I?m gonna leave you here, but just for a second, alright? I need to find out what happened, and how bad off we are. I?ll be right back, I promise.”

There was no response, though she really didn?t expect one.

Feeling carefully with her feet, Dylan set them down upon the litter-strewn ground and gingerly pushed herself up to a standing position. A wave of dizziness assailed her, followed immediately by a blinding bolt of pain that traveled from her knee joint straight up to her head. “Shit!” she gasped out, reaching down and grabbing her knee tightly as she tried to ride out the pain. “Damn it!”

After what seemed like hours, the pain finally dulled down to a roar of blood in her ears, and she slowly limped along the aisle in the direction of what she hoped was the front of the plane, taking great care not to trip over the myriad of objects strewn across the floor.

Hearing a soft moan, she headed for it. Her outstretched hand was clasped by another, warm and somehow comforting.

“Dylan?”

“Kelly? That you?”

A sigh of relief. “Yeah. You okay?”

“Pretty much,” Dylan replied. “How about you?”

“Aside from a broken arm, I think I?ll live.” When Dylan immediately released her hand, the doctor laughed softly. “No, it?s the other one. Pretty useless right now.”

“How about the others?”

“Johnson?s still alive. I can hear his breathing. Dunno about his ?companion? or the pilot, though. Have any idea where we are?”

“Not a clue.”

“Is Cat alright?”

“Yeah, I think so. I felt some blood. I think she hit her head. She?s still unconscious.”

“Alright. I?ll see what I can do to help, but first, we need to get some light on the subject. Don?t suppose a plane like this has flashlights around anywhere, do you?”

“I think I remember seeing some when I walked in. Gimme a second and I?ll see what I can find.”

Dylan continued to limp forward until she came to the partition that separated the cabin proper from the cockpit. Bending at the waist, she felt around along the floor and wall, finally brushing her fingers over several large, battery-powered flashlights clamped to the partition. Grabbing one, she tugged it free and pressed a button on its base.

“Jesus Christ,” she whispered, looking at the destruction inside the small jet. The force of the crash and torn seats from their moorings and overturned tables. Several of the windows had shattered inward, littering the floor with shards of thick, tempered glass. Wires hung down from the ceiling, and the steady drip of water could be easily heard from above.

A low whistle came from Kelly. “How in the hell we managed to live through all this, I?ll never know.”

Dylan shone the light to the right, were Johnson was laying on his back, his secretary collapsed across his chest and pelvis, and pinned down by part of the roof which was laying across her back. Johnson?s face was a sickly gray and his breath came in whistling, groaning rasps.

“He doesn?t look so good.”

“I?m surprised he?s made it this long,” Norton remarked, slipping as close to the dying man as she was able.

“Hang on, let me see if I can move this crap.”

Norton nodded and knelt down by the couch, cradling her injured arm to her chest as Dylan carefully set the flashlight down and grasped the plastic panel.

Cat?s head was pounding. Now however, she wasn?t sure if it was the cold or the fact that the plane had just fallen out of the sky. She blinked, trying to get her bearings, which wasn?t easy. Feeling something on the side of her face she reached up to find blood covering her fingers when she brought them away from her face.

“Don?t panic Cat.” These words she said aloud just to make sure her mouth and ears were still functioning. “Don?t panic. You bumped your head, but you?re still alive, so let?s just concentrate on that.”

She realized she could see by the dim light filtering in somewhere ahead of her. Reaching down into her lap, she struggled with the seatbelt. It wouldn?t budge no matter how hard she pushed down on the release button. “Goddamnmotherpussbucket!” She slammed back against the seat she was trapped in, fighting back the urge to scream out her frustrations. Her eyes darted wildly around the dim interior, trying desperately to find Dylan.

Her soft exclamation was heard, and the dim light sharpened and started to bob. A moment later, Dylan limped into view, followed close behind by the team physician.

“Dylan! Thank god you?re okay!” She narrowed her eyes. “You?re limping.”

“Yeah, I know.” The flashlight shone into her eyes briefly before flicking away. “You took a pretty nasty knock to the head. How are you feeling?”

“Like somebody scrambled up my brains for breakfast. I think I?ll be okay, though, as soon as this damn chair lets me go.” She tried the release button again, then sagged back in frustration as it still refused to give. She turned plaintive eyes to the two women standing in the aisle. “Help?”

“I?ll give it my best shot,” Norton quipped, smiling as she held up her now splinted left arm. “Thank god I?m right-handed. And no ?physician heal thyself? jokes, if you please. It?s bad enough that an orthopod has a broken bone. The Wednesday golf sessions will never be the same.”

Despite the circumstances, Cat couldn?t help but laugh, which was, doubtless, what the physician had intended.

Norton eased herself in between the crushed and cramped seats, and a quick snip of her bandage scissors was enough to release Cat from her bondage. “Alright now. Let me get a look at that gash on your head. God above, Cat, you?re not having the greatest of years, are ya.”

“No kidding.”

Dylan carefully set the flashlight down on one of the few level places on the destroyed plane. Then she switched on the second one, shining the light back the way she?d come. “Take care of Cat,” she told the doc, “I?m going to check on the pilot and see if I can figure out were in the hell we are.”

As she turned, Dylan bit her lip to keep from yelping as the pain shot through her leg once more. Moving slowly and carefully, she managed to make her way to the cockpit. Pulling the door open she, took a deep breath when she saw the pilot and what was left of the cockpit. He?d brought them down hard, but they were alive. He?d given his life to guarantee that.

The nose of the plane had impacted with a huge tree which had all but obliterated the cockpit and the man who manned the helm. The stench of blood and death was heavy in the confined space, and Dylan felt her guts roil. Knowing it was useless, but needing to try anyway, Dylan slipped her fingers along what remained of the man?s neck, searching in vain for a pulse.

Only the cold stillness of death greeted her flesh, and she removed her hand quickly, wiping the thick, clotting blood on her slacks.

She set her now clean hand on his ruined shoulder, squeezing it. “I?m sorry, my friend. Thank you. For saving our lives. You died doing what you loved, and I know that?s enough. Godspeed.”

She took a final look around the destroyed cockpit. There was nothing there that would be of any use to them. Rummaging around she managed to find what appeared to be a cell phone of some sort, but before she could inspect it, she heard Cat call for her.

Going back to the cabin, she paused when another sharp pain shot through her knee. “What?”

“Do you smell smoke?”

Dylan lifted her nose and sniffed. “Shit. We need to get out of here.”

“How? Dylan, it?s storming, we have no idea where we are. Horace is?” Cat stopped, feeling as if she was going to panic and knowing now was not the time.

The tall woman moved to the blonde and cupped her chin in the palm of her hand. “We?re going to be all right. I promise.”

Cat only nodded. She looked up when she felt Dylan run her fingers over a hastily applied band-aid. “I?m okay, just a little dizzy. But it?s passing,” she said, hastening to reassure Dylan.

“Can you help me?” Dylan asked after a moment of careful scrutiny.

“Sure. What should we do first?”

“First we need to see if we can force the door open and try to find shelter away from the plane. I?m not sure it?s safe here.”

Cat stood up slowly, feeling truly like she wanted to just die and get it over with. “First mom, now this.”

“Easy, sweetheart,” she said absently, turning away before noticing Cat?s shocked smile at the endearment. “We?re going to be okay.” She handed her the device she had found in the cockpit. “Check this out and see if it?ll do us any good. I?m gonna check on Horace.”

“?Kay.” Cat watched Dylan limp away, then she opened the phone.

Dylan looked down at Norton who was tending to Horace, trying to keep him warm and comfortable. Even as a doctor, there was little she could do, and no equipment to do it with.

“The pilot is dead.” Dylan said softly.

“Damn,” the doctor sighed. “I?m not sure Horace is going to make it either.”

“Now for more bad news,” Dylan glanced at the blonde ?assistant? who had come through it with nary a scratch, and who was currently curled up against a wall, trying and failing not to cry. “I?m afraid the plane isn?t safe. Cat and I can smell a faint hint of smoke.”

“I can smell it too, although that could just be residual from the crash.”

“True, but I?d rather not risk it. Cat and I are going to try and get us out of here. Will you be all right until we get back?”

“Do I really have a choice?”

“Guess not.” Dylan sighed. “We?ll be back as soon as we can.”

Returning to the front part of the cabin, Dylan watched as Cat worked with the phone. “Please tell me you have good news.”

“Sort of. It?s a Satphone. Bad news the storm is interfering with the signal.”

“Terrific.”

“It?s not all black. The phone has a GPS, and I think I have it set to broadcast an SOS.”

“How did you figure that out?” Dylan was clearly impressed.

“My oldest brother is an absolute technology geek. He knows all about this stuff and there were always magazines lying around the house. Now I?m not sure the signal is getting out either, but once the storm clears we should be able to use the phone and figure out where we are.”

“That?s the best news I?ve had all night.” She winced and rubbed her knee.

“Sit down.” Cat ordered and moved to help her. “How bad is it?”

“It?s okay, just a little twisted.”

“No bullshit, Dylan. I?m not in the mood.”

The coach nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I hurt it.”

“Shit.” Cat began to look around the cabin for something she could use to stabilize the knee.

“Look in my bag,” Norton half yelled. “I?ve got a few splints in there. It?s the orange one.”

Cat dug in the requisite bag and came out with a long knee brace that had Velcro straps to hold it together. “This one?”

“Yeah, that?ll work. Strap it on tight or it?ll just make things work.”

Going back to Dylan she knelt down and wrapped the knee, placing the bandage over the tan pants that seemed to have a bit of blood splatter on them. “Are you hurt some place else you?re not telling me about?”

“No. I think that?s your blood.”

“Sorry.”

“Don?t worry about it.” She jumped a bit when Cat tightened the splint.

“Too tight?”

“No it?s just right, thanks.”

Cat sat back on the floor and wiped her eyes. It was all she could do to keep from crying. “Damn.” She looked up, “Are you sure we?re going to be okay?”

“I promised didn?t I?”

“Yeah.”

Dylan grasped Cat?s hand and smiled. “C?mon,” she said, hauling herself back to her feet. “Let?s get the hell outta here.”

After about ten minutes of pushing and banging on the crumpled cabin door, they finally pushed it open. The night air was cold and wet, the rain was steady but not hard. The sky was dark and the clouds kept most of the natural light of the moon from shining through.

Cat pushed the steps over the side, and they hung in a jumbled mess halfway to the ground. Luckilly, the plane had taken a belly landing and the ground wasn?t that far below. Cat jumped down easily. Dylan bit back a groan of pain as her injured leg briefly bore her whole body?s weight.

Both turned as one to see the wreckage the crash had wrought.

The nose had been all but ripped off, as were both wings. The tail section was crushed and torn away from the plane but not ripped completely off.

“We?re screwed,” Cat said, then sneezed, a gentle reminder she was still sick as hell.

Dylan silently shook her head. “Okay, first things first. I don?t know where we are, but Horace isn?t gonna make it if we just sit here on our asses waiting for a rescue that we don?t even know is coming. We need to get moving.”

As Dylan hobbled away, Cat caught up to her and stopped her with a hand to her arm. “Dylan, wait.”

The coach stopped and turned to Cat, eyebrow raised. “Yes?”

“I think it might be better if we made some sort of shelter here and waited. No wait, hear me out,” she continued quickly as Dylan looked prepared to argue. “You?re right when you say that we don?t know where we are. For all we know, we could take three steps in any direction and blunder off the side of a mountain somewhere. It?s dark, it?s raining, and we?re lost.”

“And Horace Johnson is dying,” Dylan replied, voice tight. “I might not like the bastard, but I can?t sit by and do nothing while it happens.”

“But the satt phone?.”

“You said yourself that you didn?t know if the signal would penetrate the storm. I can?t risk it, Cat. Much as I?d rather just sit here and wait, there?s no way of knowing when, or even if, we?d be rescued. We need to move.” Her lips turned up in a wry smile. “Hell, this is America. I remember reading somewhere that there isn?t a place in this whole country that doesn?t have a maintained road within several miles.”

“But you?re hurt?.”

“So are you. And so is Kelly. But none of us is hurt as badly as he is.” Dylan?s eyes softened and she grabbed Cat?s hand in her own, squeezing it gently. “I have to try, Cat. I can?t just sit around waiting. Not when someone?s life is on the line. I just can?t.”

After a long moment, Cat sighed and nodded. “Do you promise to take it easy, and stop if it gets to be too much for any one of us?”

“I promise.”

Smiling, Cat stood up on tiptoe and kissed a stunned Dylan softly on the lips. “I believe you. Now let?s go take care of business.”

With that, Cat trotted off, back toward the plane, leaving a wide-eyed Dylan behind.

Dylan, Cat, and Kelly, despite their various injuries, made quick work of salvaging the wreckage of anything that would be of use, and strapping Johnson to a backboard stretcher that had come through the crash miraculously unharmed. Of the secretary, who Cat discovered had the totally fitting name of Tawny, there was little effort to help, as her constant whining had forced the doc to dope her up with some potent antianxiety medication that had her huddled off to one side, humming to herself and grinning idiotically at nothing.

“Well, we won?t starve,” Dylan commented as she tossed the gear out the door.

“Got a Big Mac in your pocket?” Cat teased as she picked up a couple cushions they decided would make good pillows.

“No, but I imagine by the time we get out of here, I?ll even be willing to eat one of those.”

“Funny, I was thinking if we were gonna be here too long you could make soup from roots or something.”

“Well, after a few days of that I might even be convinced to eat pizza.”

“We could do vegetarian on half.”

“You?re on and I?m buying.”

“It?s a date.” Cat grinned, thinking that this was the most absurd way she had ever been asked out. “It is a date isn?t it?”

“You bet it is.”

Dylan handed the solar blanket to the doctor to give to Horace to keep him warm. “He needs this worse than we do.” She didn?t know how, but the bigoted old bastard was still alive, though deeply unconscious and gray as ashes. “You ready?”

“Guess so.”

“Let?s go.”

With Norton, powerful flashlight in hand, taking point and Dylan and Cat carrying Johnson?s stretcher between them, the small group began to make its way away from the plane?s wreckage and, hopefully, toward some indication of civilization.

The rain had slackened some, but the night was still dark and moonless. The scent of evergreen, damp and sharp, filled their otherwise dulled senses. They followed a game trail that sloped steadily downward at a gentle grade.

Dylan?s knee felt like it had been filled with broken glass, shooting bright spikes of pain through her body with every limping step she took. Every time she was almost ready to call a halt, however, she would look down at Johnson?s gray and pain wracked face and push on, figuring that while she could worry about her knee later, Johnson simply didn?t have that kind of time.

They continued in this vein for almost an hour before Kelly Norton held them up with an upraised hand.

“What is it?” Cat asked. “Why are we stopping?”

“I?m not sure,” the doc replied, voice slightly muffled. “I can?t see much, but there?s something about this that I don?t like.”

As if by providence, the moon chose that moment to sail out from behind the rapidly dwindling clouds. By the moon?s eerie, ghostly light, they were all able to see that Norton?s instincts had undoubtedly saved their lives.

“Holy Jesus,” Cat breathed, looking down an almost sheer cliff face that dropped off below them not more than five steps away. “I guess I wasn?t kidding when I said I was afraid we?d wander off a mountain, was I.”

Dylan slowly lowered her end of the stretcher, prompting Cat to do the same. Once Johnson was safely on the ground, Dylan came around his prone body and walked almost to the edge of the cliff. “Long drop,” she remarked softly.

“You?re not kidding,” Norton replied eyeing the almost bottomless well yawing before them.

“What do we do now?” Cat asked.

A low scud of clouds crossed the moon, painting the world black again.

“I think it?s best if we stop for the night,” Dylan said, her voice discouraged. “I know it won?t help Horace any, but we can?t risk walking any more in the dark. It?s just too dangerous, now that we know what we?re up against. We can start out again at dawn.”

Cat nodded and touched Dylan lightly on the back, knowing how much it had cost her coach to make that decision.

“I?ll have to agree,” Norton said, turning away from the chasm. “Let?s move back to that little clearing we passed through and pray that no one walks in their sleep.”

While Kelly Norton took care of settling Johnson and tending to his needs as best she could, Dylan and Cat took care of gathering as much fallen wood as they could. Many of the branches had been sheltered from the worst of the storm by the trees towering above them, and they both soon returned with armfuls of kindling with which to start a fire. Norton leant them her Zippo and soon a warm fire was blazing in a good sized clearing in the woods.

“With any luck,” Dylan remarked, “any rescue passing overhead will see this and know where we are.”

“I hope so,” Cat replied rubbing her arms with her hands as her teeth chattered. “God, I?m freezing!” Then she doubled over with a coughing fit that left her cheeks an alarming shade of plum. “S-sorry b-bout that,” she said when she could finally straighten.

Dylan moved to her smaller friend, expression deeply concerned, and opened her arms. “Come here.”

Cat moved to her and they settled down together next to a downed tree and near fire. They booth looked at Norton, who gave them a grim thumbs up.

“He?ll freak if he come to and sees this,” Cat remarked between the shivers, as Dylan drew a coat over them.

“Ask me if I give a flying fuck at the moment.” Dylan felt her knee really starting to stiffen and visions of more surgery flashed through her mind. “Are you getting warmer?”

“Yes, thank you. You?re a great hot water bottle.”

“Well, sharing body heat is about the only way we?re going to ward off hypothermia, so feel free to cuddle all you like.”

“You know you didn?t have to order a plane crash to get me to put my arms around you.”

Dylan chuckled and kissed the top of Cat?s head. “Well, you know me, when I do something I do it big.”

As the night wore on, Cat finally fell into a restless slumber. Dylan remained about half awake and could hear Cat?s cold coming back with a vengeance as she began to cough and wheeze. She held her tighter, relishing the feel of the smaller woman in her arms, and rested a damp cheek against Cat?s soft hair.

Please God, get us out of here.

Dawn was still many hours away when Dylan was roused from a light, very fitful sleep by a sound out of place with those around her.

As she blinked the sleep from her eyes, she cocked her head, willing the sound to return so that she could identify it.

The rain had stopped, allowing the normal night sounds of the thick forest to take over once again. A soft moan came from slightly below her, and Dylan looked down to see Cat huddled tightly against her, face streaked and shiny with sweat. She was mumbling incoherently within the grip of some fevered dream, and her body was emitting a great heat.

“Shit,” Dylan swore softly through gritted teeth as she shifted slightly, trying to make a more comfortable nest for the uneasy Cat.

“Dylan,” Norton called, sharply. “Help me. He?s coding.”

“Wha—?” Carefully, but quickly, easing herself away from Cat, Dylan half ran, half stumbled her way around the fire to where Johnson lay, ignoring the agony in her knee.

“You need to help me. We have to start CPR but with this broken arm, I can?t do compressions. If you can do them, I?ll work on mouth-to-mouth, okay?”

“What about her?” Dylan asked, pointing to the platinum blonde head that peeked out from beneath the solar blanket as she awkwardly knelt down beside Johnson.

“Dead to the world. C?mon, Dylan, I need your help.”

“Alright,” Dylan replied shortly, getting into position and placing the heel of her hand on the lower third of his sternum as Norton knelt at his head and tilted his head back, opening his airway. “Ready?”

Nodding, Norton bent her head and delivered two quick breaths. Coming up, she nodded to Dylan, who began compressions, counting each one out in a slow, liquid rhythm. After two rounds of compressions and rescue breathing, Norton called a halt and felt for a pulse.

There wasn?t one.

“Shit. Ok, start again.”

Several more rounds continued in the same vein. With the same result.

They were getting ready to resume when Dylan stiffened and cocked her head, listening.

“What is it?”

“Helicopter.”

“You?re kidding, right?”

“No, listen.”

As Dylan continued compressions, Norton looked up through the leafy canopy, then grinned when she saw a large searchlight playing back and forth in slow arcs over the ground. “They found us!”

“Not yet they haven?t.”

Taking a deep breath, Dylan briefly rested all of her weight on her injured knee and lashed out behind her with her good leg, impacting the stuporous body of the blond bimbo behind her.

Said bimbo rolled over from the force of the blow, and remained where she lay, completely out for the count.

“You sure she isn?t the one we should be doing this to?” Dylan asked, eyebrow raised as her hands continued to press down on Johnson?s sternum.

“Hey, that was some powerful shit I gave her.”

“You sound like a streetcorner drug dealer.” Dylan gratefully took a rest as Norton breathed for Johnson. Looking behind her, she noticed Cat?s huddled form near the fire. She looked up, still tracking the circling helicopter. Shit. I don?t wanna do this. She needs her rest. Damn.

“Cat!!”

Hodge fought her way up through layers of fevered images, horrifying and terrifically sharp in their intensity.

“Cat!!”

It was as if she was swimming, and the nebulous voice calling out to her was some bizarre lifeline. She headed toward it as the dizzying dream images conspired to lay false traps for her consciousness.

“Cat! Wake up!!”

Her eyes snapped open and she quickly, without realizing it, rolled to her feet, balanced on the balls like a fighter ready for attack.

Then the nausea hit, sinking its claws into her belly and twisting.

Dylan was saying something to her?screaming it, really?but she couldn?t understand the words over the sick thumping in her head and the queasy accompaniment of her guts. To take her mind off of both, she squinted, trying to determine, through a fuzzy and vapor locked mind, exactly why Dylan was kneeling by Horace Johnson and why she was pressing his chest like that.

The answer hit her like a ton of rubble, and she stagger-stumbled her way over to Dylan?s side, bighting back the urge to collapse into a shivering ball only with the greatest of wills.

“Oh my god! Is he?”

“Never mind that,” Dylan bit off, resuming her rhythmic compressions. “There?s a helicopter out there looking for us. Grab the spare flashlight and try to flag them down, okay?”

“Um?yeah. I can do that.”

“Still nothing,” Norton said, feeling for a pulse as Dylan paused.

“Cat?”

“Yes?”

“Hurry.”

The urgency in Dylan?s voice cut through the fever-fog, and Cat jumped to, bending quickly to scoop up the large flashlight and running out into the forest. When she tipped the light upward, she realized that the canopy above was much too thick to allow the beam to penetrate, so she continued to run forward, half-remembering another large clearing they?d passed through earlier that night. Or this morning.

Or whenever it was.

Finally, the overhead canopy broke and she strode out into the large, roughly circular clearing, and swung her flashlight upwards in large, beckoning arcs. “Hey!!” she shouted, knowing they couldn?t hear her, but some part of her needing to try. “Hey! We?re here!! Hey!!!”

The shouting touched off another coughing spell, this one so silent that it doubled her over and almost caused her to lose her grip on the flashlight. As she gasped for breath, she feebly waved the light, praying desperately that they would see her and respond.

A moment later, the helicopter?s huge searchlight blinked on, then off, then on again, and a thin rope lolled out of the open door, followed quickly by a man clad in an orange jumpsuit who shimmied down the rope and to the ground.

“Oh,” Cat gasped, “thank you god. Thank you.”

When she was finally able to straighten, she saw the man hit the ground and come running toward her, bulky duffel in his hand. “Miss? Are you alright?”

“Yes?my friends?back there?hurry!”

Dylan didn?t bother disguising her sigh of relief as the rescue worker displaced her position at Johnson?s side and pulled out the automatic defibrillator he had in his duffel. Within a matter of a minute, he had the electrodes taped to the man?s still chest. A second later, he read off the rhythm, and a message which didn?t tell him anything he didn?t know already. A soft hum as the machine powered up, and he looked around, making sure no one was touching the patient.

“Stand clear,” ordered the defibrillator in a robotic voice. A second later, Johnson?s body jumped as the electrodes fired.

“Asystole. Check for pulse,” the machine then commented, letting them know the first try had failed. “Check for pulse.”

“Nothing,” the rescue worker replied, confirming the mechanical diagnosis. “Let?s try again.”

Another soft hum, another charge, and Johnson?s lifeless body jerked again.

“Houston,” the man said softly, “we have liftoff.”

The small group, hurting and tired and bedraggled as it was, brightened considerably.

“He?s not out of the woods yet,” the rescue worker cautioned, “but?you guys probably just saved his life.”

With that, he looked up and around, and his eyes widened, and he jumped to his feet quickly. “Aren?t you??”

Dylan nodded.

“And you?re?.”

Cat nodded, a little surprised that she?d been recognized.

The man?s face split into an enormous grin. “Wow. My wife?s gonna be so jealous when I tell her I met Dylan?.” His smile faded as a blush stole up his cheeks and ears. “Oh my god?I met Dylan Lambert!! I can?t believe it!!”

The sound of a throat being softly cleared broke the young man from his haze, and he looked back down at the team physician, who was still crouched at Johnson?s head.

His response was cut short by the helicopter?s pilot jogging into the clearing, bulging equipment bag slung over one broad shoulder. He nodded at them all, then knelt down by Johnson, assessing the downed man and talking quietly to his partner. Then he stood, looking the group over carefully.

“Ya?ll aren?t dressed for camping. How?d you get all the way up here?”

“Plane crashed,” Dylan succinctly stated.

“Isn?t that why you?re here?” Cat asked, puzzled.

The pilot shook his head. “No. We were following the SOS signal. We get ?em all the time from campers who get lost or stuck up here. Not a friendly place to be, if you get my meaning.”

“It?s not as if we had a choice.” Norton?s mildly chiding voice filtered up from the ground.

“We didn?t hear of any plane crashes in the vicinity.” The pilot was more than a little defensive.

“You?re more than welcome to check out the wreckage yourself, if you want,” Dylan offered, eyebrow raised as she leveled a challenging stare at the young, cocky man.

The pilot cleared his throat and broke off the stare, looking around the clearing, uncomfortable. “No, that?s alright. I believe you.”

“Lucky us,” was Norton?s dry reply.

“Well,” he said finally, once again in control, “I?m afraid we weren?t expecting quite so large a group.”

““salright,” Dylan drawled. “Get Johnson outta here. He needs it the most. Take the doc too, if you can. She can give you his history.”

“Horace Johnson? The electronics guy?”

“That?d be him.”

“We were on our way to LA for the game,” Cat interjected before doubling over with another coughing fit.

“Damn. I didn?t realize?. Was there anyone else in the plane?”

“Just the pilot,” Dylan replied. “He didn?t make it.”

“Shit. Okay, we can take him and?are you the doctor?”

Norton nodded.

“Okay, we can take you two over to Rocky Mountain Regional and then head back over here.” He looked up at Dylan, a bit disconcerted to find a woman towering over him. “Will?will you be alright here for a little longer?”

Dylan looked to Cat, who nodded, though she looked absolutely miserable.

“Got any blankets?” Dylan asked.

The pilot reached into his duffel. “Sure. Here.” He handed over two large, warm blankets, which Dylan and Cat took gratefully, wrapping them around their drenched and shivering bodies.

“What about her?” the younger medic asked, poking the unconscious secretary. “She hurt?”

“Tranked,” Dylan replied, a smirk twitching the corner of her mouth. “She?ll be okay with us.”

“If you say so,” the medic remarked.

“I do.”

“Alright then. Let?s get him wrapped up and stowed aboard.”

Moments later, the clearing was empty save for the unconscious bimbo and Dylan and Cat. “You doing alright?” Dylan asked, looking down on the bowed head before her.

Cat looked up and attempted a smile.

It wasn?t very successful.

“I?ll live.” Her eyes darted down to Dylan?s knee which was visible through a part in the blanket covering the tall, lean form. “How ?bout you?”

Dylan shrugged. “The same.” She allowed a small smile to form, opened the blanket, and spread out her arms. “C?mon, let?s share some body heat.”

Cat looked at her askance for a moment, then laughed. “We haven?t even had our first date yet!”

“Think of this as a pre-dating ritual. Snuggle together, keep warm, works for me.”

Cat laughed again. “Me too.” Stepping forward, she wrapped her blanket around them both from the inside, and Dylan wrapped hers around from the outside. The rather large disparity in their heights placed Cat?s cheek against a warm, soft nest, and she couldn?t resist snuggling in, breathing her first contented sigh of the adventure.

“Oh yeah,” she breathed, voice husky as she took in the warmth and scent surrounding her. “This definitely works.”

“No.”

“But, Ms. Lambert?.”

“I said ?no?.” Dylan sighed. “Look, just give me whatever papers I need to sign so that I can leave AMA and I?m outta your hair, alright?”

“Ms. Lambert, I wouldn?t recommend?.”

“Of course you wouldn?t. That?s why I?m not asking you to. Just give me the papers already. I?ve got a plane to catch.”

It had taken some doing, but she had finally convinced Mac, via cellphone, to book them on the earliest flight out to LA. Crash or no crash, she wasn?t about to miss the game.

And that gave her?she checked her watch?exactly one hour and forty five minutes to spring herself from this prison disguised as a hospital and head to the airport.

Drumming her fingers on the stretcher?s cold metal siderail, she glowered at the physician, who ignored her and fiddled with the X-rays hanging on the lighted board.

The door that separated Dylan?s small triage area from the rest whooshed open, and Kelly Norton strode through, sporting a cast from fingers to above her elbow colored a garish purple and black. “No comments from the peanut gallery,” she warned as she strode to Dylan?s stretcher. “How?s tricks?”

The orthopaedic surgeon who was trying to treat Dylan looked over at the doctor, eyes wide. “Kelly Norton?”

“That?s m?name.”

“Dear God! It?s an honor to meet you, Doctor. Your papers and lectures on the latest techniques in bone grafting were some of the best I?ve ever read on the subject!”

Norton smiled. “I?m glad you found them informative Doctor?.” Squinting, she peered at his name badge. “Planton.”

“Mike, please,” the young surgeon said, reaching out and grasping Norton?s uninjured hand between both of his own. “This is really an honor. I?ve been a fan of your work for years.”

“Um, yes?well?.” Norton cleared her throat, uncomfortable with the younger man?s blatant fawning. She looked over at Dylan, who gave her a wicked smirk. “How?s the knee?”

Dylan scowled. “Your friend there won?t let me out of here until he does an MRI, and radiology doesn?t open until tomorrow morning. If he can manage to fit me in tomorrow morning. Which is highly in doubt.”

Norton turned back to the doctor, eyebrow raised. The young man threw up his hands. “It?s standard medical practice. Her X-ray doesn?t reveal any damage, but with the work that?s been done on that knee already, I don?t feel that it?s medically advisable to take any chances. We need that MRI. There?s no way around it.”

“And her clinical exam?”

“Gross swelling and ecchymosis over the joint. No crepitus, and it seems stable enough, but I?m not comfortable at all with taking a chance based on my clinical exam alone. Not what that knee and what it?s already been through.”

Norton turned to Dylan. “He?s got a point, my friend.”

“I have my own points,” Dylan retorted. “Point one: We all have a flight to catch in exactly one and a half hours now. Point two: I don?t intend to miss that flight. Point three: If you don?t give me those papers to sign, I?m gonna get down off this stretcher right now, brace or no brace, and I?m gonna be real pissed off when I do.”

“I don?t think we wanna know what point four is,” Norton said dryly.

Dylan shot her a look.

Norton sighed. “Alright. Brace her up and release her to my care. I?ll make sure she gets that MRI right after the game tomorrow, if I have to trank her up to do it.” Lowering her face, she stared directly into Dylan?s flashing eyes. “And don?t think I won?t do exactly that, my friend. I?ve spent too much time and effort on that knee of yours and I?m not about to sit by and let you ruin it. Got me?”

After a moment, Dylan nodded. “Yeah, I got you.”

Norton shot a look at the staring doctor. “Well? Am I talking for my health here? What are you waiting for?”

“This is totally ill-advised, Doctor?.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know all about it. Just do what I ask, Doctor Planton. I?ll take all responsibility for the outcome.”

“But?.”

“Do it.”

“Once again, ladies and gentlemen, I?d like to thank you for choosing Amazon Airlines. Local Los Angeles time is 5:30am, local temperature is a balmy eighty three degrees. Please remain seated until the captain has pulled into the gate and turned off the fasten seatbelts sign. Please see the gate agent for any connecting flight information you might need. It was our pleasure to serve you and we hope to see you again on another Amazon Airlines flight real soon.”

Dylan turned her head as she felt Cat shift next to her. The young woman?s head was bruised around the cut, which had taken several sutures to close, and she looked tired and miserable. “Hey,” the coach said softly.

“Hey,” Cat replied, shifting again. “Remind me never to get sick again, will you? It feels like a mule kicked me where they gave me those damn shots.”

“Did they make you feel any better?” Dylan asked, giving into her impulse to brush a stray lock of hair away from Cat?s sweaty cheek.

Sighing softly, Cat leaned into the gentle touch, her eyelids fluttering closed. “Yeah. The steroids have got me a little buzzed, though.”

“We?ll be at the hotel in about an hour. Maybe the effect will have petered off by then.”

Cat yawned and stretched. “God, I hope so. If I don?t get some sleep soon, I think I?m going to explode.” Opening her eyes, Cat swung her head, eyes alighting on Dylan?s heavily braced leg which was propped awkwardly in the aisle. “How ?bout you?”

“Leg?s pretty numb,” Dylan replied. Which was, she admitted privately, a damn sight better than the jagged, broken glass pains she?d been experiencing before. “But otherwise?not bad.”

“Considering,” Cat said with a wan smile.

“True,” Dylan pondered, stroking her bottom lip. “We could be Horace Johnson.”

Cat?s lips thinned in a grimace of distaste. “No, thanks.”

Johnson was currently taking up space in a CCU in Denver, waiting to get strong enough to actually survive the surgery they had planned for him. Cat wondered how many Hail Marys she?d be expected to say if she confessed to the sin of?just for a split second, mind you?wishing the surgeon?s knife would slip just a fraction of an inch one way or the other.

Too many, she decided, and dropped the thought in favor of one involving a nice, soft bed, nice warm covers, and sleep.

Lots of it.

Mac stood outside the gate looking like a puppy that had just gotten caught piddling on the carpet. An egg-suck grin was on his face as he shrugged his broad shoulders, empty hands raised to the air in a gesture of futility.

The reason for the expression was soon obvious as the small group came down the jetway.

Even airport security couldn?t keep back the crowds of people?mostly reporters?who pushed, jostled, shouted and snapped picture after picture, almost blinding the deplaning passengers. Dylan, saddled with her brace and a pair of already detested crutches, shot Mac a glowering look before hobbling into the terminal proper.

“Ms. Lambert, could you—?”

“Ms. Lambert, how was—?”

“Ms. Lambert, what did—?”

Fetching a deep sigh, Dylan hobbled over to the nearest microphone and yanked it from the hands of a startled reporter. “The plane crashed, we survived, and now we?re here. Have a good day, everyone.”

The security guards strained to keep back the crush of reporters, then split in the middle, forming two parallel lines; a gauntlet of sorts that the members of the Badgers walked through and which ended at an electric people mover cart captained by a smiling skycap.

Cat sat down on the padded bench with a grateful sigh, then blinked several times to clear the white flashes from her eyes. “Jesus.”

“Sorry about that,” Mac said, voice contrite. “They were here when I got here.”

“It?s alright,” Dylan said, rolling her neck and shoulders to get the kinks out, which was pretty much an exercise in futility. Grunting softly, she gave up and simply concentrated on not falling out of the cart as the skycap hotdogged it down the mostly quiet corridors of the terminal.

She turned her head as she felt a warm hand settle on her shoulder. Mac smiled slightly, tears brimming in his eyes. “Thank god you?re okay,” he whispered. “Just?thank God.”

Dylan returned the smile and lifted her hand to cover his larger one, squeezing gently.

The rest of the ride was silent.

They left through a private exit and were immediately escorted into a waiting SUV limo, and from there to a large, well-appointed hotel a little less than an hour away.

The crowd that greeted them in the hotel wasn?t the press, but rather the coaches and players of the Badgers, cheering when their fallen heroes walked safely through the doors.

After touching Dylan almost reverently, as if she were the very goddess her name inspired, the players crowded around Cat, hugging her tightly and teasing her mercilessly?their way of whistling past the graveyard.

Caulley looked apologetically at Dylan after giving her a quick hug. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I couldn?t get them to bed down.”

“Been up all night?”

Caulley yawned. “Pretty much, yeah. When your flight was late, Mac started calling around. We didn?t get confirmation of the crash, and your rescue, until a couple of hours ago. By then, they were all too wired.”

“We could talk to the league about postponing the game,” Mac suggested, sidling up behind the small group.

Dylan gave the idea serious, if brief, consideration. Then she shook her head. “Nah. They?ve got too much energy that they need to burn off.”

“I could give them the practice from hell,” Caulley retorted, eyes glinting with an almost sadistic light.

Dylan smirked. “I?m sure you could, but?.” She paused as Cat turned to her, expression almost pleading. “?I think we?ll just go ahead. See if you can coax ?em into a couple hours? shut eye at least, then we?ll set up for a light practice before the game. See what happens.”

Caulley nodded. “I can do that.” She lifted her head. “Alright, ladies, the party?s over. Everyone back to their rooms. Now,” she ordered to forestall the expected protests. Shoulders slumped, the players filed back onto the elevators, leaving Mac, Dylan, Kelly Norton, and Cat behind.

Mac looked at the small group. “I?uh?put you and Cat in the room adjoining Dylan?s, Kelly. I figured you guys would want to?talk?or whatever.”

Norton grinned. “Better hope I never tell your wife what a sweetie you are, Mac. You?ll never hear the end of it.”

The others chuckled as Mac blushed hotly, fingering his collar and clearing his throat. “I, um?I?.didn?t?..”

Laughing, the physician clapped the huge man on his massive back. “Just teasing, my friend. Seriously, though, thanks. The closer space will let me check over my patients? injuries. So, good job and all that kinda stuff.”

“Thanks.” The blush still hadn?t receded. “So?I?ll see you guys later, then?”

“Count on it.”

The room was cool, dim, and comfortable. Cat groaned as she dropped her duffle on the side of one of the double beds and pulled down the spread. The soft whiteness beneath seemed to be calling her name, and she moved toward it willingly, until another voice, this one much sharper, broke into the fantasy.

“C?mon, shortchange. I need to check your sutures.”

Groaning, Cat stamped her foot like a petulant child, and turned to the figure leaning against the doorjam that separated the two adjoining rooms. “Can?t you do it here?”

Norton grinned. “Nope. Light?s better in here. And besides, Dylan?s here and I?d rather just kill two birds with one stone, if you don?t mind. Some of us didn?t get a chance to nap on the way over.”

“Oh, alright.” Sighing, Cat followed the doctor into Dylan?s well lit room and sat down on the massive king-sized bed, careful not to jostle Dylan, who was already laying down, injured leg unbraced and propped up on several pillows.

“Ouch,” Cat hissed, eyeing the lurid bruise that covered Dylan?s leg from mid thigh almost to her ankle. “Damn, that?s ugly.”

“Doesn?t feel all that pretty either,” Dylan bit off, shifting her weight in the bed as waves of angry pain rolled through the joint as if a hornet?s nest had taken up residence inside her knee. Her thigh and calf were cramping to beat the band, adding to the agony.

“Anything I can do?”

“Yeah,” Norton replied, frustrated at her limited ability. “How are you at digging out Charley Horses? She?s cramping up bad but she can?t put weight on that leg.”

“I?ve done a few in my time,” Cat allowed.

“Alright, but make sure you don?t flex her foot and stretch the Achilles.”

“Damn, well, that?ll make it a little harder, but?.” She looked up at Dylan and received a short nod in return. “Okay. Tell me if I?m hurting you.”

“Believe me, it won?t hurt any worse than it does now,” Dylan grunted, both hands grabbing fistfuls of blanket and squeezing tight. “Just do it.”

Stiffening her fingers, Cat dug into the cramp, grunting with the effort. She hadn?t been lying when she said that she had some experience with calf cramps, but she?d never had to try and soften one in a leg as muscled as Dylan?s. It was like trying to dig into solid rock. “I?m sorry,” she murmured when Dylan flinched.

“?sokay. Just keep at it,” the coach replied through gritted teeth.

The next several minutes were spent in tense silence as Cat?s strong fingers worked deep into the muscle, probing and massaging until the cramp finally, mercifully, began to loosen. She gentled her touches then, squeezing and releasing Dylan?s leg to make sure huge knot didn?t return. Feeling the tension slowly subside, she looked up to find Dylan slumped bonelessly against the headboard, eyes closed.

“God, that feels good.”

Cat grinned happily. “Yeah? I?m glad.”

The young woman?s fingers continued to move of their own accord, gliding over warm, silken skin in a languid caress. A movement off to her left caused her to shift her gaze from Dylan?s peaceful face to Norton, who bore a decided smirk.

It was then that Cat realized what she was doing and, flushing from her neck to her hairline, she drew her hand back as if her fingers were on fire.

Norton laughed softly, shaking her head. “Lay down up there with Dylan, Cat. Let me finish up with the Goddess here, and I?ll check your sutures in a couple minutes.”

“Are you sure?” Cat asked, a bit uncomfortable. “I mean, I could just?.”

“C?mon up here,” Dylan said, eyes still closed. “I won?t bite.”

“That?s not what I heard,” Norton snorted, using her uncasted hand to massage the big muscles in Dylan?s thigh.

One blue eye opened and gave her a stare before closing again.

Once again realizing how truly exhausted she was, Cat crawled up the bed, then turned, and flopped down on her back, one arm flung over her eyes.

A second later, she was fast asleep.

“Poor kid,” Norton said softly as she finished the massage. “Kinda rough start for her, huh?”

Opening her eyes, Dylan rolled her head and looked down at Cat?s peaceful face. She fought the urge to gently stroke the pale cheek, just to see if it was as soft as it felt. “Yeah.”

“She?s pretty resilient, though, I?ll give her that.”

Norton looked over at Dylan and knew her words were wasted. The tall superstar seemed totally absorbed in the smaller figure laying next to her. There was a smile on her face that Norton, who had known Dylan for over ten years, had never seen on her face before. Sweet, tender, laced with warm affection and, possibly, something else.

“Dylan?”

“Yeah?”

As the doctor looked on, Cat shifted, then rolled onto her side, one hand reaching out and curling around Dylan?s wrist.

Norton smiled.

“Nothing.”

Grabbing the brace, she reapplied it to the coach, seating the Velcro firmly, but not too tightly. Then she rounded the bed and brushed Cat?s bangs away, checking on the neat line of sutures right at her hairline. Aside from a little residual swelling, everything seemed to be fine. And she could tell just by listening that the steroids and antibiotics Cat had been given had done their job.

“Listen, it?s probably best if she stays here with you tonight. No sense in waking her up and bringing her back to the other room, right? I mean?as long as you?re comfortable with it.”

“I?ll be fine,” Dylan replied, distracted by the warm, soft hand encircling her wrist.

Norton smirked. “I?m sure you will be, my friend. I?m sure you will be.”

Bidding them both a silent goodnight, she left the room and closed the door quietly behind her.

Cat looked at the bags on the counter. She sighed and wondered if she could really pulled this off and why in the name of God she hadn?t just agreed to go out to Dylan?s favorite restaurant.

She knew exactly why, and it didn?t take her mind long to come up with the answer as she reached in a brown sack and retrieved the ingredients. She wanted to be alone with Dylan. Plain and simple. She didn?t want to share her with the outside world on the night that was their first ?official? date.

She had offered to make Dylan a ?wonderful? vegetarian meal. Now all she had to do was figure out exactly how to do that. She had slightly misrepresented her cooking skills. She would never starve to death, but she had always felt it was best not to subject her friends to her culinary offerings.

After taking all the things she had purchased at the farmer?s market and the local health food store out of their bags, she retrieved the recipes that she had downloaded from the internet.

Her mother had always told her you couldn?t go wrong if you always followed the recipe. She really hoped that her mother was right this time.

She placed the fresh vegetables in the dish drainer, knowing they would need to be washed and chopped up as she prepared each dish.

Her menu was complete. She would offer Dylan nice raw vegetables with homemade ranch dressing and vegetarian pate for hor d’oeuvres. Dinner would start with a nice miso soup, and then she would serve spinach souffl� and roasted chilies with garlic sauce.

As far as she could tell from all the research she had done this would be a nice meal with the tastes and textures complimenting each other. She had called her mother and asked her for ideas. Her mother wasn?t much help, reminding Cat that she came from a meat and potatoes family and maybe she should try to bring Dylan over to the dark side. That was when she suggested the recipes.

Cat read the recipes as she sorted the ingredients and set everything into their respective piles. “I can do this,” she muttered to herself. “I can fix a perfectly nice dinner for her. It?s only vegetables for Christ?s sake.”

She heard him and looked over to see Hamlet sitting in the kitchen doorway. His head cocked to one side and one eyebrow apparently raised.

“Not a word out of you, Flea Bag.”

The dog all but smirked before plopping down on the floor, head resting on paws to watch his mistress. Smiling, Cat took a treat from the container on the counter and tossed it at the dog. His head whipped up and he snatched the tasty treat from the air with a snap.

“You?re so easy,” Cat chuckled and then started removing pots and pans from under the cabinets. “I wonder if Dylan can be trained through her stomach.”

Cat continued working around the kitchen. Her mind wandered to many topics in order to keep her from thinking about Dylan. They had lost the big game in California. It wasn?t any wonder really, given that she and Dylan had spent the night on a freezing mountain, not quite sure if they were going to live.

Not only were they in no condition to perform their respective roles as player and coach, but the rest of the team had gotten very little sleep when they found out the private plane had gone down. To make matters worse, early reports stated that there had been no survivors and they were waiting for the bodies to be brought down.

Fortunately, Cat, Dylan, and the team doctor had made it out with what could be considered minor injuries, considering the situation. Unfortunately, Cat thought acidly, Horace had survived not only the crash, but a heart attack as well. She shook her head as began slicing vegetables, her mother would not be proud of her for thinking such things. Even if Horace Johnson was a narrow minded, bigoted son of a bitch.

They split the next two games of their road trip, and arrived back home battered, bruised, and sitting in third in their division.

Needless to say, no one was very happy when they touched down in Birmingham just the day before, and Cat just about started in surprise when Dylan reminded her of her bargain and their first ?real? date together. She couldn?t snap the idea up quickly enough, and then spent the rest of the night worrying that Dylan might think her something tart, and cheap, and rhyming with ?go?.

Shaking herself out of those less than pleasant memories, she covered the tray of veggies and the now freshly made pate and placed it in the refrigerator so they would be properly chilled when Dylan arrived.

Next, onto the stock for the soup. She was very pleased with herself and that she had not made any critical errors. She was a bit worried about how soft the tofu was, but she decided that since it was made from soybeans it was probably suppose to be mushy. It still cut up just fine into little cubes to be put in the soup.

She peered into the to soup pan stirring it slowly. “I think it?s okay. God I?m going to need a burger after she leaves.” A slight, sexy smile crossed her lips as she put just a touch of pepper in the soup. “If she leaves.”

Everything was prepared and Cat had to give herself credit. For dishes that had nothing that resembled meat in them, they all smelled good.

“I?m amazed,” she mumbled as she looked into the last pan, containing the roasted chilies. The aroma was spicy and Cat wondered if she would be able to eat it. Hot food was not her thing, but she knew Dylan had a taste for it.

Hamlet jumped up and dashed for the door when the bell rang. He stood there, barking and growling and doing what he was trained to do, protect Cat, with his very life if need be.

“All right ferocious, knock it off. Its just Dylan.” She reached down and tugged on his collar, causing him to stop immediately. He sat back and waited for her to open the door. If she was wrong he was right there to tear the throat out of anyone who would hurt his human.

Cat smiled when she opened the door, finding Dylan leaning against the jam. A bottle of wine in one hand and a bouquet of wild flowers in the other. She?d rid herself of her damnable crutches the day before, over the vociferous objections of Norton and the entire medical staff, and was down to the bulky brace that she wore under loose black slacks.

“Hi,” she said softly, causing chills to run up and down Cat?s spine.

“Hi, yourself. Come on in.” She stepped back and allowed the tall woman entrance.

Hamlet was sure that no one was here for dastardly purposes and left them standing there as he went to his big bed in the living room.

“I?m glad we decided to do this, Cat.” Dylan offered the flowers first then the wine.

Cat took both, blushing at the flowers and looking at the bottle. “I thought you didn?t drink.”

“I don?t really, but one glass of wine with dinner tonight isn?t going to kill me and I thought I would show you I?m not totally weird.”

“Do you like tofu?”

“Love it!”

“Great, you?ll love the soup, but you?re still weird.” She chuckled as she walked to the kitchen with Dylan following behind.

Dylan took a seat on a stool at the breakfast counter. She grinned as Cat removed the trays from the fridge and placed them in front of her, uncovering them with a flourish.

“For your approval madam, fresh vegetables and a vegetable pate. The crackers are also kosher for you meat hating types. I checked just to make sure.”

“You?ve gone all out for me. I?m impressed.”

“Of course I did. I wanted us to have a nice first date.”

Dylan smiled and took Cat?s hand gently, running her thumb over the back of soft skin. “It?s already nice, because we?re together.”

“You?re very sweet. You know that?”

Cat is delighted to see Dylan duck her head and smile in a slightly bashful way. The blonde leaned forward and placed a soft kiss to the lips before her.

When she drew back, she smiled again. “I?m glad you?re here.”

“Me too.”

Cat cleared her throat and slapped back all the thoughts of leaving dinner untouched as she dragged Dylan to her bedroom. “Try the pate.”

The tall woman nodded and took one of the crackers in hand. Cat turned away and rooted around in the drawer for a wine opener.

“Oooo this is good.”

Cat turned around, nearly dropping the bottle and the corkscrew. “Really?” Blonde brows jumped to her hairline.

“Yes, really.” Dylan laughed. “It?s very good.”

There was an audible sigh of relief, which made Dylan chuckle harder.

“Don?t tell me you were worried.”

“Of course I was worried,” she stated as she struggled with getting the cork from the bottle. “My idea of vegetarian is extra tomatoes on my hamburger.”

Dylan took the bottle and easily removed the cork as two glasses were placed in front of her. “Thanks.”

“No problem. After spending all day in the kitchen, that was easy.” Cat sat moved around the breakfast bar and took a seat next to Dylan. Taking her wine glass she held it up in toast, “Here?s to a wonderful evening.”

“I?ll drink to that.” She sipped her wine before turning back to the pate. She offered a cracker coated in the greenish brown paste. “Try it.”

“I dunno?”

“Oh now come on, you didn?t go to all this trouble, just to let me eat it myself.”

Cat tasted the mixture, reluctantly agreeing with a nod that it was pretty good.

“So,” Dylan popped the rest of the cracker in her mouth. “What else is for dinner?”

“Miso soup?”

“One of my favorites.”

“Good. Spinach souffl� and roasted chilies.”

“Wow you did go all out didn?t you?”

“I tried.”

“Thanks. Not many people go to the trouble of cooking for me.”

“I actually enjoyed it.”

Dylan absently scratched her neck. “When will it be ready?”

“Oh it?s ready now.”

“Then let?s eat, but before we do, can I use your bathroom?”

“Sure, you know where it is.”

Dylan got up and headed upstairs, while Cat dishes out the soup. She noticed that it had an extremely tangy smell she hadn?t noticed before, but she figured it must be natural.

“Hey Cat?”

She moved so she could look up to the railing where Dylan was standing. “Yeah?”

“Did the pate have peanuts in it?”

“No why?”

“Well, I?m starting to break out like I do when I eat peanuts. I have a mild allergy. Nothing serious. I was just wondering.”

“No it?s got?” she paused, then dashed into the kitchen, pulling a bottle of oil from the cabinet. “Oh shit!” She ran back out and looked up again. “Peanut oil.”

“That?s it.” Dylan chuckled as she descended the stairs.

“I?m so sorry.”

“Hey, it?s okay, really. I forgot to tell you and you had no way to know.”

“Oh damn.”

“Cat, really, it?s okay. I swear. It?s not serious. I just won?t be eating anymore of that pate.”

Cat nodded ruefully and headed back into the kitchen. “How about soup, I promise no peanuts or peanut extract got within a foot of it.”

“Perfect.”

They went to the small dining table, which Cat had set with a tablecloth and candles. The addition of Dylan?s flowers made it very romantic.

Seated, Cat brought the soupspoon to her lips but stopped just short when the smell assailed her again. Dylan looked at the bowl with some concern.

“Ummm Cat, what?s in this soup?”

“It?s a vegetable stock with tofu.”

“Un-huh. Did you put the tofu in the fridge?”

“No, it?s bean curd for God?s sake?” She stopped and looked to Dylan. “It went bad?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I?m afraid so, tofu can go bad in a flash.”

“I don?t believe this.”

“Hey, we still have the souffl� and the roasted chilies.”

“Right.” Cat tried to remain positive, but her hopes were slowly diminishing. “Let?s hope I don?t kill you with those.”

“Cat,” Dylan moved closer and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you even tried this. Vegan cooking isn?t easy.”

“Vegan?” Cat slowly drew back. “As in no meat by products?”

“Yeah.”

“Great there goes the souffl�.”

“What?”

“Eggs and milk,” Cat sat back down. “God, this has got to go onto your list of hellish dates.”

“No,” Dylan returned to her seat. “It?s not hellish. I could stand to lose a little weight.” She joked hoping to lighten the mood. “We still have roast chilies.”

“Are you sure you?re that brave?”

“Absolutely, bring them on.”

Cat wasn?t sure why Dylan was being so gracious about the whole mess, but she hoped that she wouldn?t go screaming into the night. Well, at least not running away. Screaming into the night was high on Cat?s list of things that she wanted to hear Dylan do.

Dylan looked at the dish, smiled and speared a huge amount of the colorful vegetables that had been prepared just for her. She smiled at Cat as she started to chew.

Cat watched as Dylan?s eyes grew wide and panic crossed her face as chewing got slower and slower and it was obvious she was desperate to find a place to rid herself of the food. The napkin in her lap was the only option, once the food had been disposed of, she grabbed her wine glass and drank it straight down, then blindly grabbed for Cat?s glass as well.

She was coughing and choking, her face was bright red and tears were steaming down her cheeks. Cat dashed to the kitchen and poured Dylan a glass of soy milk, she didn?t even have time to turn around before Dylan reached passed her and grabbed the regular milk and gulped it straight from the carton.

After nearly finishing a quart of milk in one long gulp, Dylan sank to the floor sliding against the wall as she did.

Cat knelt and placed her hands on Dylan?s knees. “I?m sorry.”

“What,” the tall woman gasped. “What kind of chilies did you use?”

“I when to the farmer?s market and told them I needed red, yellow and green chilies?”

“Oh God?” Dylan blew out a long slow breath. “Cat, Roasted Chilies, don?t actually have chilies in them. They have bell peppers?it?s just called Roasted Chilies.”

“That?s stupid, why not call it Roasted Bell Peppers?”

“I have no idea.” Dylan wiped the tears from her eyes. “God, that was hot.”

Cat?s shoulders slumped. “I?m so, so sorry.”

“These things happen.”

“Yeah, but why do they have to happen to me?” Cat slumped on the floor next to Dylan and placed her hand on the tall woman?s leg.

“Just lucky I guess.”

“So now what are we going to do for dinner.”

Dylan removed her cell from her hip. “I have it covered.”

Dylan took the wine glasses to the living room while Cat cleaned up the remnants of their delivered dinner. The coach had taken pity on her player and ordered from a place that would bring her something with meat.

Cat enjoyed a nice chicken and rice dish while Dylan had eaten a passable vegan lasagna. It wasn?t what Cat had hoped for, but Dylan seemed to take it all in stride and they had a nice evening.

As the blonde considered her disaster in the kitchen, Hamlet watched from the edged of the tile floor. Cat gathered up the souffl� and dropped it into his bowl. “Here you go pal. I?m sure you?ll enjoy it.”

The dog wandered over to his bowl and sniffed. Then he sat down and looked at Cat with a whine. He almost seemed to be shaking his head no.

“Oh come on, it wasn?t that bad!”

Hamlet whined again.

“Was it?”

The dog barked this time.

Cat relaxed as she felt strong arms encircle her from behind. “You never can go wrong with dessert,” Dylan purred into her ear.

“You can if you don?t have any,” Cat replied over the heartbeat thundering in her ears.

Dylan?s resulting chuckle, deep and sensual, turned Cat?s mouth into a desert as all the moisture in her body headed southward for the summer.

“There?s more than one way to defur a feline.”

Her hand was gently clasped and she followed Dylan blindly into the living room, spending the duration of the short trip simply bribing her legs to work properly.

She then found herself blinking owlishly down at Dylan who had appropriated much of the couch and was lounging there like a well fed cat, long arms resting against the back. “Care to join me?” She flashed a sexy grin that had Cat seeing a whole galaxy?s worth of stars. “I don?t bite. I promise.”

“Not even if I ask?” Cat asked finally, sliding down to sit closer to the tall woman.

“Well now, that a horse of a different color.” Dylan lifted her hand and palm Cat?s cheek. “You?re a beautiful woman, Catherine Hodges.”

“Think so?” Cat could feel her face heat as a blush traveled from her collarbones up into her hair.

“Oh, I know so.” A long thumb brushed against coral lips, soothing and exciting them at the same time. “And I also know if I don?t kiss you soon, my had may explode.”

“We can?t have that,” the blonde sighed and leaned forward. “You need your head.”

“I?m pretty attached to it actually.” Dylan smiled and leaned forward, tenderly kissing Cat?s lips.

Cat moaned softly, drowning in the almost overwhelming emotion of the gentle exchange. Warmth spread outward from her heart, traveling through her body and back again in a never ending cycle. She blindly followed Dylan?s lips as they pulled away, and when a gentle tongue drew itself across her highly sensitized flesh, she welcomed it inside her, drinking in the taste, the essence of the woman who had caused this powerful hunger to well and rage within her.

Dylan finally pulled back and leaned against the back of the couch, bringing Cat with her and keeping her close within her tender embrace. Cat could hear her powerful heart thumping double time, and she smiled, knowing Dylan was just as effected as she.

“We needed this,” Dylan said quietly, a husky undertone coloring her voice. “Just a quiet night without homophobes or crashing planes.” She cocked her head slightly, effortlessly capturing Cat?s rapturous gaze. “Unless you?d like to go somewhere else?”

“I don?t think we should risk it,” Cat reached up and unfastened the top button of Dylan?s shirt, pressing a kiss to the hollow of Dylan?s throat. “We should just stay here.”

Another button, and another kiss. Dylan?s scent rose up to greet her, and she felt as if she were falling. “Until at least tomorrow,” she continued in a voice she didn?t even recognize as her own.

As a third button loosened, Dylan felt herself quickly begin to lose what little control she had left. Her hand came up of its own volition, cradling the back of Cat?s head as her fingers threaded themselves through the incredibly soft hair. The sensations rushing through her body easily melted her self-imposed restraints and her mind, whirling with emotion and need, struggled to remind her of the promises she?d made to them both.

With a great amount of reluctance, her body screaming at her every millimeter of the way, she pulled again away from Cat. Looking into the glazed and passion-dark eyes almost trumped her resolve. She took in a very shaky breath, and eased it out slowly, demanding her body to calm itself.

“Did?did I do something wrong?” Cat asked in a voice that almost broke Dylan?s heart.

Gathering the younger woman closely to her, Dylan strokes the fine blonde hair in a soothing manner. “God, no. No, Cat. You did everything right. Everything, believe me.”

“Then why??”

“We?um?.” Dylan cleared her throat. “We agreed to take this slowly, remember?”

Cat blinked once, then nodded, almost timidly. “Yeah. We did.”

Closing her eyes, Dylan gathered the younger woman against her as fully and as tenderly as she could. “Cat, believe me when I tell you that there is nothing, and I mean nothing, that I would rather do right now than to make love with you right now.”

“There?s a ?but? in there,” Cat mumbled against Dylan?s cloth covered chest. “I just know there is.”

“There is,” Dylan said sadly. She sighed. “Cat, the truth is, I?m so damned attracted to you that I can?t see straight some days.”

“Well, that?s a good thing. Isn?t it?”

Dylan laughed softly. “A very good thing,” she agreed.

“But?.”

“But we need to take this slowly. Not just for us, but for our careers. We have a lot to focus on with the team, and to be completely honest with you, Cat, if we make love now, here, tonight, I?m afraid that my focus on my job will suffer. And that?s not something I can afford to let happen right now.”

Cat was still for a very long time. Dylan continued softly stroking her hair, content to let the young woman process her words and draw her own conclusions from them.

Finally, Cat sighed and pulled slightly away, tilting her head to meet Dylan?s eyes. “Even if the rest of me doesn?t agree, my head knows you?re right.” Lifting a hand, she stroked the sharply etched planes of her coach?s beautiful face. “Since it?s our night for confessions, I?ll tell you that from the moment I saw you in my dorm room that day, I?ve known that I could lose myself in you so very easily, Pallas Dylan Lambert.”

“You have, huh?”

“Oh yes. But I also know that you?re right. We?ve both put our life?s energies into what we do on the court, and I guess we need to make that our first priority.” She looked up, a little guilty. “And I?m not sure I could do that once I made love to you for the first time.”

The hug she received was worth every aching hormone in her body, and she sunk blissfully into it, praying with one corner of her mind, that it would never end.

It was well after midnight when Dylan said her goodbyes for the evening. The accompanying kiss left Cat?s entire body feeling like Jell-O, and she stood on unsteady legs waving goodbye until Dylan?s taillights disappeared down the street.

Hamlet, sitting just inside the door, whined, then gave a soft yip to get his master?s attention. Cat turned to him, in a daze. “Oh. Sorry boy. I guess you need to go out, huh?”

A sharper bark was her answer, and she led the dog out onto the grounds to take care of business.

When they reentered the apartment, Cat looked at the used glasses on the coffee table and shrugged. “They?ll still be there in the morning. C?mon, Hamlet. You can wait by my bed while I take a shower.” She paused as she touched her still tingling lips. “A long, cold shower.”

“Time! Call time!!” Dylan strode down the sidelines, eyes blazing, her hands forming the universal “time out” symbol.

From the corner of her eye, Cat caught Dylan?s gesture and signaled the ref for a time out. The whistle blew, and the teams trotted to their respective sidelines.

The trainers came immediately forward, handing the sweating women towels and bottles of water, which were quickly grabbed and put to good use.

Dylan looked up at the clock, though she had the entire scoreboard printed on her retinas. Eleven point nine seconds was a veritable eternity in basketball. Even if you were behind. Unless, of course, you didn?t have the ball.

“Stern, you?re in for King.” The rangy forward nodded and headed for the scorer?s table to check in with the ref.

“Alright, the rest of you, listen up. We?re gonna be heavy handed on the inbounds. Tippens and LeRoy, I want you in on their passer like you?re glued together, understand?”

Both women, dripping with sweat, nodded.

“Alright. If you can get a five second violation, we?re good. If not, foul. I don?t care how, just foul. We still have one to give, so make it count.”

“What happens if we can get a five?” Chaney asked, running a hand through her sodden dreds.

“I don?t care who in-bounds,” Dylan replied. “Just get it to Hodge.” She turned to Cat. “If you have an unbelievably free shot, go for it, but if not, hold it as long as you can, alright? We don?t want this backfiring on us.”

“Got it.”

The buzzer sounded, signaling the end of the time out.

“Alright, ladies, let?s win this.”

“Goddess!”

Dylan rolled her eyes, as she did every time her team made its rallying cheer. The team grinned back at her before turning and running onto the court, ready for action.

Blowing her whistle, the ref handed the ball to the Legend passer. Immediately, the young, rather short, woman was surrounded on two sides by the Badgers? forwards, doing their best to block every conceivable passing lane the young woman might think up.

Five seconds later, the whistle blew again. The guard slammed the ball down in frustration, and Chaney ran to the sideline to retrieve it, grinning like a madwoman.

Giving the Legend players no time to set up, Chaney passed the ball to King, who in turn hit Cat with a perfect bounce pass. Instead of going in for the shot, which would have meant trying to avoid the Legend center, all six foot seven of her, Cat shot an eye toward the clock, noticed she still had over seven seconds left, and deliberately slowed her dribble, allowing her teammates time to set up.

It was then that she was hit from behind by a runaway train in the form of the same Legend guard who had failed to get her pass in-bounds. Cat flew into Chaney, and both women fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. The ball jumped from Cat?s hands and skittered across the endline.

The whistle blew as Dylan jumped to her feet. “Flagrant foul! Two, ref!! Two!!”

As soon as the referee held up two fingers, the Legend coach, a never-was by the name of Ken Handley, rushed out onto the court, narrow chest thrust so far out it looked like he was setting sail. “Bullshit! Bullshit!!”

“Go back to the bench, Coach Handley, or I?ll hit you with a technical.”

“Go ahead! See if I give a flying fuck! You?re killin? us out here, ref! You?re killin us!”

“Back to the bench, Coach. I?m warning you.”

“Warn this you fucking dyke loving piece of shit!” Handley punched the ball from the referee?s hands, narrowly missing Chaney?s head.

Dylan flew onto the court just as the ref was calling a technical and an ejection. Caulley ran after Dylan and grabbed her by the arm. Dylan shook the restraining hand off and continued forward, eyes silver and blazing in the brilliant lighting.

Ignoring the irate coach who steeled himself to go toe to toe with her, as if the event had turned from basketball to WCW wrestling, Dylan strode over to Cat and Chaney, who were on their feet and dusting themselves off.

“You alright?”

“I am,” Cat replied, “but I Chane twisted her ankle pretty bad when I fell on top of her.”

Chaney scowled at Cat. “I?m fine, shortchange.”

“Get Tippens. She?s going in for you.”

“Coach?.”

“Do it.”

Sighing, Chaney stalked back to the bench, trying hard not to limp. She was less than successful.

As Chaney left, Dylan turned back to Cat. “You sure you?re alright?”

“Not so much as a skinned knee,” Cat replied, grinning. “Looks like I finally got a break.”

“Don?t jinx it.”

They both looked over at the opposition?s bench as the ejected Handley kicked a chair in true Bobby Knight fashion.

“Jackass,” Dylan muttered, shaking her head. “He just cost his team the game.”

“Think so, huh?” Turning slightly, Cat gazed at the backboard. “Guess it?s time to see if all those hours of free throws paid off, huh?” Her smile was slightly pained.

“Just do your best,” Dylan replied, putting a hand on Cat?s shoulder and giving it a brief squeeze.

Cat grinned. “You know it.”

With a short nod, Dylan walked off the court as the teams lined up just outside the key. The ubiquitous whistle blew yet again as the referee tossed Cat the ball.

The large crowd went silent. Not that that mattered to Cat. She wouldn?t have heard them if they were buck naked and playing the Star Spangled Banner on kazoos. All she heard was the slow, calm beat of her heart overlaid by the sound of the ball hitting the varnished cart and bouncing back into her hands.

Once. Twice. Three times. Get a quick look to the hoop. Shoot.

The crowd erupted as the ball slipped through the basket, hitting nothing but net.

Smiling at her teammates, she accepted the praise and deft pats on various parts of her anatomy before again receiving the ball and taking her position.

The second shot wasn?t quite so pretty, and Cat?s heart leapt into her throat as the ball came down too quickly and bounced on the front of the rim, shooting straight up and rattling around the rim for a good bit before finally deciding to drop through the net.

The crowd stood and cheered as Cat again received the congratulations of her teammates, this time liberally sprinkled with good-natured teasing.

The third shot was anticlimactic. Cat knew it was a done deal as soon as the ball left her hands. She was already walking toward the sidelines before it even went through the net, only to be swept up by her teammates and paraded across the court like a conquering hero to the excited cheers of more than ten thousand fans.

The whole thing went by in an adrenaline-filled haze, but Cat would always remember the bright blue eyes, filled with pride, meeting and melding into her own.

Cat was waiting for Chaney as the taller woman hobbled out of the trainer?s room on a set of crutches. Her foot and ankle were encased in a bulky splint, and the look on her face was anything but pleasant.

“Damn, Chane! Are you alright? What?s the verdict?”

“Ain?t no big deal, just a strain. I don?t even know why I have to use these damn things.”

“You?ll use ?em because I told you to use ?em.” Norton walked out of the room, straightening the lapels of her lab jacket. “Because if you don?t?.”

“I know, I know,” Chaney replied, hanging her head.

“I know you know. Just know that I have spies everywhere, so don?t let me hear that you wowed the patrons at that pro am next weekend, and you won?t have to hear me tell you you?re benched for the next two months.”

Chaney?s eyes widened. “Shit! The pro-am! I totally forgot about that!” She turned to Cat, a look of misery on her face. “I?m sorry, Shortchange. Damn.”

“It?s okay,” Cat replied. “It?s more important to get than ankle of yours better.”

“Yeah, but?damn.” She brightened a touch. “Hey! Maybe you can get one of those guys to sub for me?”

Cat shook her head. “Can?t. They?re either using the break to see their families or taking a nice stress free vacation.”

“Shit.” Chaney looked around. “What about Caulley?”

Cat?s jaw dropped. “You?re kidding, right? Tell me you?re kidding.”

Chaney laughed. “Alright, so she?s not the best replacement in the world, but at least she has a pulse, right?”

“I think I?d kill myself first.”

Both fell into the silence of their individual thoughts. Suddenly, Chaney?s eyes lit. “Hey! What about—?”

“No.”

“But?”

“No. Don?t even think about it.”

“Why not? She?s perfect! You couldn?t ask for a better draw!”

“Except for one tiny little detail.”

“What?s that?”

“She doesn?t play anymore, remember?”

Chaney flapped her hand, almost losing a crutch in the process. “Aww, that ain?t a big deal. I bet if you asked her real nice, she might consider it.”

“I think you?re overestimating my persuasive abilities.”

Chaney leered. “Aw, c?mon Shortchange. You could talk Eskimos into ice cubes and you know it. You got charm oozin? outta your?”

“That?s enough,” Cat warned, grinning. “I get your point, even if I don?t exactly agree with it.”

“So? You gonna ask her?”

“I?don?t think so, Chane,” she demurred. “You know how quiet she is on the b-ball topic.”

“Oh, c?mon, shorty. What?s the worst she could say? No?”

“She could throw me out on my ass and trade me.”

Chaney laughed. “She ain?t like that and you know it. Now go on, chickenshit, or I?ll do it for you.”

Cat looked at her, wide-eyed. “You wouldn?t.”

“You bet your sweet ass I would, girl. So,” she grinned, easy and wide, “what?s it gonna be?”

“I can break that other ankle for you,” Cat mock-warned.

“And miss seeing this gorgeous face rescuing your ass every game? I don?t think so.”

Shaking her head, Cat laughed. “All right, all right, I give.”

“So you?ll ask her?”

“Yes, I?ll ask her.”

“You go, girl! Gimme a day or so and I?ll turn over all the money I collected to you, k? It?s a lotta green.”

“Chane, you don?t have to do?.”

“Sure I do. It?s for a damn good cause. Knock em dead, shortchange.”

With a last wide grin, Chaney hobbled away, cursing her crutches every step of the way.

When the door swung shut, Cat was left in the hallway alone. Rubbing suddenly sweaty palms against her jeans, she tried to assemble the thoughts running scattered through her head. After a moment, she sighed, shoulders slumped. “I can?t believe I let you talk me into this.”

“Talking to the arena ghost again?”

The velvet voice close over her shoulder scared several years of life out of the young player. Jumping, she spun and almost ended up in Dylan?s arms.

“Jesus! You just scared the crap outta me!”

Dylan smirked. “I called your name, but you didn?t answer. You seemed?preoccupied.”

“Oh! Well. I was. Kinda.”

“Mm.”

Cat sighed.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I?um?.” She looked down at her feet, then back into Dylan?s intense eyes. “You remember me talking to you about the Children?s Cancer Initiative Pro-Am tourney?”

Dylan nodded. “Yeah. Gave you a contribution a few weeks back.”

“That?s right,” Cat replied, remembering her shock at the number of zeroes following the first figure of said contribution. “Thanks again, by that way. That was incredibly generous of you.”

Dylan flung a negligent hand.

“Well?my playing partner was supposed to be Chaney, but Doc Norton?s keeping her off her foot until the break?s over, so I?m?kinda stuck.”

“Anyone else available to help you out?”

“No,” Cat replied, shaking her head. “Everybody?s leaving for vacation.”

A slow, if not entirely pleasant, smile spread over Dylan?s lips. “Let me guess. Chaney tried to talk you into asking me to sub for her.”

“Yes?” It might not have been meant to be a question, but it came out that way.

The smile disappeared. “No.”

“But?”

“No.” Dylan sighed. “Look, we?ve been through this before. I don?t play anymore. Period.”

“But you do, Dylan. You play every day in practice.”

“That?s different,” Dylan replied, scowling.

“How? How is it different? You play harder than the rest of us combined, and you know it. You?re out there every day, for hours at a time, putting us through our paces. No one can keep up with you, though God knows we try. And I?ve even heard some of the coaches say that you practice at home as well. So tell me, how is it different?”

Eyeing her companion for a moment, Dylan shook her head. “I don?t want to get into this now.”

“Ok.” Cat held up her hands. “Ok. I won?t push you. Just?at least think about it, okay? It?s for a good cause, and you know that your name would ensure a record turn out.”

A small smile curved Dylan?s lips. “Not pushing me, huh?”

Cat blushed slightly, chagrinned. “Well?.” Stepping forward, she placed a gentle hand on Dylan?s wrist. “Just think about it, okay?”

After a long moment, Dylan nodded. “Okay.”

Cat was sitting on her couch wearing her oldest, holiest, and most paint-splattered pair of sweatpants topped by a t-shirt she?d had since Junior High. A three-quarters empty jumbo bag of chocolate double-stuffed Oreos sat on the coffee table next to a similarly desiccated jug of milk.

The TV was blaring Southern Sports Network?s Weekend Roundup through its large speakers. The commentators, both women, were going methodically through the WBL?s All-Star lineup. Both speculated why no Badger, and in particular Cat Hodges, had been selected.

“Good question!” Cat shouted through a mouthful of cookies, toasting the screen with the milk jug. “Damn good question!”

The doorbell rang as Cat was gulping down her milk, and she almost choked. Swallowing hard, she slammed the jug down on the table and levered herself out of the couch.

“I?m comin?, I?m comin?,” she grumbled at the doorbell as it rang again. “Keep your shirt on.”

“Ooooh,” she said as she took a look through the peephole, “on second thought, take it off!”

Grinning widely, she unlocked and swung open the door. “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in!”

Smirking, Dylan gave Cat a slow, head to toe look.

Cat looked down at her grubby clothes and flushed. “I know, I know. Look what the cat threw up, right?”

“You said it, not me.”

“You didn?t have to.” The smile returned and, reaching out, Cat caught Dylan?s wrist and pulled her inside the apartment. “So, to what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

“I was taking care of some business across town and figured I?d stop by on my way back and give you this.” Dylan handed her a thick envelope. “Came for you today.”

Spying the return address, Cat smiled and ripped open the envelope. Her smile faded in confusion. “First class tickets? I didn?t order?.” Reaching into the envelope, she pulled out a second booklet. She raised disbelieving eyes to Dylan. “You?re going?”

Dylan?s glossy hair swung free as she nodded.

“Oh my god!” Stepping forward, Cat threw her arms around Dylan and hugged her close, beaming with pleasure at the news. “Thank you so much! God, this is gonna be great!”

“Well, I don?t know how great it?s gonna be, but I?m glad it makes you happy.”

“You have no idea.” Reaching up, she pulled Dylan?s head down and gave her a kiss that left the taller woman seeing stars.

After a long moment, Dylan pulled away, grinning. “Oh,” she drawled, tasting Cat on her lips, “I think I might have some idea.”

Cat chuckled.

“So, how?s dinner sound?”

“Hmm?I might be persuaded.” Looking up at Dylan, she grinned. “Is tall, dark and delicious on the menu?”

Dylan rolled her eyes. “As long as it?s a thick steak or a large cup of coffee, no problem.”

Cat affected a pout, which earned her a gentle bump on the nose from her tall partner. “So?”

“I suppose,” Cat replied, releasing a sigh worthy of any martyr. “Gimme a second to change, ok?”

“Sure.”

The pair was just finishing what even Cat had to admit was an absolutely fabulous, and rather romantic, meal when Dylan?s phone rang. With a grunt of disgust, she pulled the slim phone from her jacket pocket, unflipped it, and held it to her ear. Barely a moment later, she closed the phone and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between two fingers.

“What?” Cat asked.

“The idiot who calls himself my agent,” Dylan grumbled. “I was supposed to sign some papers for him today and I left them back at my house.” Shaking her head, she shoved the phone back in her jacket. “Damnit. I?d normally blow him off, but he?s meeting with Nike tomorrow, and they?re already whining about the damn contract.”

Cat?s face fell a little, though she tried valiantly to hide her disappointment. “That?s okay,” she said finally, giving her best smile. “We were pretty much done here anyway, right?”

“Yeah.” Dylan?s fierce blue eyes softened. “I?m sorry, Cat. This wasn?t what I had in mind when I suggested going out for dinner.”

“That?s okay.” Cat?s smile became more genuine. “You can always make it up to me later.”

Chuckling, Dylan eased her long frame from the bench seat and stood, straightening the lay of her jacket. “Ready?”

“Let?s go.”

Once inside her car, Dylan looked at her watch, then lightly beat her hand against the steering wheel. “We?re never gonna make it. His damn plane leaves in a couple hours.”

“Well?um?are we close to your house?” Cat paused a moment, then hurried on. “I mean, instead of dropping me off and then going back, we could just go over to your house, pick up the papers, and drop them off, right? I mean, if that?s okay.”

Cat wasn?t sure why she was suddenly feeling so hesitant, but she did know that above all things, Dylan?s privacy was her most prized possession. She hadn?t seen her coach?s house yet, hadn?t even asked about it, and figured Dylan would issue the invitation when she was ready. If she was ever ready.

She bravely raised her eyes, to meet Dylan?s smiling gaze.

“I?m glad someone in this car remembered their brains today. You sure you don?t mind coming along?”

“Are you kidding?” Spreading her arms, Cat lounged back into the incredibly soft leather of the bucket seat. “Lead on, Madame. I?m yours for the evening.”

“Geez,” Cat remarked, stepping out of the car and eyeing the grounds of Dylan?s estate, “this place have its own zip code?”

“Ha, ha,” was Dylan?s droll reply as she walked toward the door and inserted her key. Opening the door, she is almost bowled over by two very large, very feisty dogs, who stopped briefly to greet her, then pelted outside to snarl at the intruder to their domain.

“Halt!” Dylan yelled, freezing both dogs in their tracks before Cat had the chance to either scream or keel over. “You?d better both be sitting by the time I turn around, or I?m going to have a nice pair of matching furs to hang over the fireplace.”

Brunhilde and Siegfried sat immediately. Siegfried look chagrinned. Brunhilde just looked pissed.

Turning, Dylan walked in between her two dogs, laying a hand on each of their huge heads. “This, my dears, is Cat. She is a friend. Understand?”

Brunhilde gave a soft chuff, not entirely convinced. Siegfried promptly rolled over onto his back in an invite for a belly rub.

Cat broke into laughter, completely charmed by the goofball?s antics.

Brunhilde growled.

“Brunhilde!”

Bending at the waist, Dylan stared into Brunhilde?s intelligent eyes. The dog?s eyes shifted away, then back again.

“Jealousy doesn?t become you. Deal with it.”

Brunhilde growled again, softly.

“I mean it.”

After a long moment, Brunhilde gave an almost human sigh, and dropped gracefully down to her belly, resting her head on her paws.

“Good girl.” Dylan looked up to see Cat?s concerned gaze. Her expression softened. “Don?t worry. She won?t hurt you.”

“That?s not what I?m worried about,” Cat replied, looking at Brunhilde, and her mistress, in turn.

Dylan?s eyebrow rose.

Cat blushed. “I?um?I don?t want to come between you, that?s all. It?s obvious you mean everything to her.”

“And she means everything to me.” This was said with a truly loving look toward the ?she? in question. A look that was returned with equal emotion. “She?ll be alright.”

Siegfried whined, still waiting for his belly rub.

Cat looked at Dylan, a question in her eyes.

“Go ahead,” Dylan said, laughing. “He won?t shut up until you do.”

Cat approached the dog slowly, squatted down, and began to rub his warm, soft belly, to his extreme delight and appreciative groans.

A moment later, she was almost launched into orbit by the feel of a large, wet, and very cold nose pressing on the inside of her free arm. Brunhilde?s slightly grudging, slightly beseeching gaze caused the laughter to well up again, and Cat gave into it, reaching up and scratching the large dog gently behind the ears.

“Alright, you two. Enough with the hedonism. Inside.”

All thoughts of pleasure forgotten, the two dogs immediately rose to their feet and trotted into the house. Dylan and Cat followed close behind.

“Wow?” was all Cat could say as she entered the grand residence. Huge, airy and open, it was as if someone had stepped into her dreams and brought them to life.

Dylan looked over her shoulder, smiling as she noticed Cat?s rapt wonder. “I?d give you the nickel tour, but we?re running late. Feel free to look around while I scrounge up those damn papers. Be back in a minute.”

As Dylan jogged up the stairs, her faithful companions only a step behind, Cat took immediate advantage of the invitation and walked to the first thing that caught her attention: a wall made entirely of glass, which looked out onto the back of the huge, sprawling grounds.

In the foreground, down a slight hill, sat a sparkling, and quite large, in-ground pool which gave the illusion it was being fed from the artfully created waterfall set into the hill. At the base of the waterfall, Cat could see a good-sized Jacuzzi just waiting for some lucky person to immerse herself within its warm, swirling waters.

Behind the pool, brightly lit against the darkening night, was a large, clay floored basketball court.

“So this is how the other half lives,” she said softly, her breath slightly fogging the glass in front of her. “Niiiice.”

Turning away from the window, Cat looked over the large living room. Dylan?s tastes apparently ran toward modern. Leather and chrome dominated the huge, open structure. Tasteful, colorful, and no doubt frightfully expensive pieces of abstract art decorated the otherwise barren walls.

In one corner sat the mother of all entertainment centers. Cat got pleasant chills just looking at it. Part of her, the electronics geek that was all her father, itched to dig in and play, to see just what all that sleek metal and glass and fabric was capable of.

Her fantasies were interrupted at the sound of Dylan?s quiet return. She turned, quite aware of the goofy look on her face. “Quite a place you?ve got here.”

Dylan shrugged. “It?ll do.” Then she smiled. “Glad you like it.”

“Like it? A girl could fall in love here, you know.”

Dylan?s eyes sparkled. “She could, could she?”

The change in the tenor of their banter finally penetrated Cat?s hazed mind, and she froze for a moment as the words replayed in her head. Then she smiled. “Yes. She could.”

The two stared at one another, separated only by the silence of emotions a hair away from being revealed.

Dylan?s cell-phone shattered the intensity of the moment into a million shining fragments. “What?” she barked the second the phone was up to her ear.

“Testy, testy!” Manny?s voice was its usual annoyance. “You planning on getting those papers to me before Chanukah, sweetheart, or am I going to have to send the nice Nike people to come down and collect them personally?”

“Call me sweetheart again, Manny, and I?ll break you like the slimy little twig you are.”

Cat?s eyes widened, not realizing that this passed for normal banter between the two.

“Ooooo, someone?s got a touch of the PMS, nu?”

“Cut it, Manny. I?m headed out the door now. I?ll be there in ten.”

“Ta, sweetheart.”

Growling, Dylan snapped the phone closed and shoved it back in its place.

“Everything okay?” Cat asked cautiously.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, Dylan forced herself to calm. She smiled. “Never better. Let?s get outta here before my head explodes. Brains are a bitch to get out of leather.”

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to ESPN?s annual coverage of the Children?s Cancer Initiative Pro-Am Three on Three tourney. I?m Bob Haskell, here with my partner Jan Wainright in sunny California to cover what promises to be an interesting and fast-paced weekend of athletic competition”

“You?re right about that, Bob. Especially after yesterday?s surprise announcement which shocked the sporting world and caused tickets, already going briskly, to completely sell out in just a little over twenty minutes.”

“And that surprise, Jan ,is of course the announcement that Dylan Lambert, the Goddess of Women?s Professional Basketball, will be competing in this year?s tournament.”

“It certainly surprised me, Bob.”

“I?m sure it did, Jan. Now, let?s get to the particulars. Basketball isn?t the only sport being played during this four day event.”

“You?re right, Bob. Some of the teams that are competing in the basketball arena are also going to be competing on an entirely different court. Made of sand.”

“Yes, two on two beach volleyball will be on the schedule for the first two days of this weekend athletic gala, and we have several interesting matchups to be seen here today.”

In the tunnel into the small, but packed, stadium, Dylan was sitting calmly on a stool, adjusting her new knee brace before dropping her lose nylon windbreaker type pants over it. Crossing her arms over her knee, she watched with amusement as Cat either paced back and forth as if trying to wear a hole through the cement floor, or jumped in place like a demented kangaroo, swinging her arms in large, looping circles.

“You?ll have had bigger crowds at your high school games,” Dylan commented softly as Cat stopped jumping and began pacing again.

“Tell that to my stomach,” Cat retorted, reaching the wall and turning to pace again. “It?s got butterflies the size of chickens in there and they?re complaining about the accommodations.”

Laughing softly, Dylan stood. Approaching Cat, she gathered her in for a close, warm hug. “It?ll be alright. You?ll see.”

Cat burrowed in close, enjoying the scent of Dylan, which was now enhanced by sweet-smelling coconut oil. “Mmm.”

Chuckling, Dylan pressed a kiss to the crown of Cat?s head, then released her, smiling down at the younger woman, eyes soft and clear.

Their quiet moment was interrupted by the sounds of their opponents approaching. One was immediately recognizable as Lany Simmons, a tall, rather stocky pro golfer who was known for out hitting the men from their own tees. Her partner was a shorter, spry Olympic miler, Mary Talb. Dylan and Cat nodded to the women, who nodded back in turn and exited the tunnel into the sunshine beyond.

“Shall we?” Dylan asked.

“Let?s get this over with,” Cat grumbled.

The PA speaker came to life, announcing their names. Both women slipped sunglasses over their eyes and stepped into the warm, sunny day.

The crowd was immense, and growing. There wasn?t an inch left in the stands. Fans stood along the sides and back, cheering wildly as they entered the court. Dylan?s name was chanted with such ecstatic force that Cat feared for a moment that a riot was about to erupt.

She looked around in awe, eyes wide, and realized, for the first time, just a little of what it was like to be Dylan Lambert.

“Dear God,” she whispered, holding a hand to the pulse hammering in her throat. She found herself fighting down a sudden, almost overwhelming and totally unexpected attack of claustrophobia as the crowd seemed to grow and swell before her wide, staring eyes. Voices and faces merged into one writhing and almost malevolent entity, swelling toward her as if intent on ripping out her very heart and displaying it on a trophy stand on their collective mantle.

A warm hand brushing lightly against her shoulder grounded her slightly, and she looked up, the extent of her anguish mirrored in the lenses of Dylan?s sunglasses.

“How in the world do you handle this?” she croaked, voice as dry as the sand beneath her feet.

Dylan looked up, sparing the immense crowd a casual glance, which further sparked their mania, before looking back to Cat. A broad shoulder lifted briefly in a casual shrug. “Just something you get used to, I suppose.”

“I?d never get used to this,” Cat said, stopping an internal shiver from becoming an external one. “Never in a million years.”

The corner of Dylan?s mouth quirked. “Oh, you will. It won?t be long before it?s your name they?re shouting like this.”

“Not like this,” Cat replied with conviction. “Never like this.”

Dylan relaxed her lips into a full smile. “We?ll see.” She touched Cat?s shoulder again, long fingers surreptitiously stroking the soft flesh there. “C?mon. They can?t start without us.”

Cat forced her legs to move to the small seating area that was reserved for them. The screaming crowd was still much too close to the court for her tastes, but a long line of beefy security guards seemed intent on keeping the writhing mass away from the players.

Relaxing a bit, she smoothed the tuck of her tight, sweat-wick shirt into her black and purple running shorts and squatted down to stretch her still tense muscles, her back to the crowd.

Her routine was interrupted by an almost sexual moan from the crowd behind her. Turning her head, she froze, and only barely saved herself from an ignominious fall to her backside as her eyes, thankfully hidden behind the dark glasses, widened to the size of saucers.

Dylan had just stripped away her black windbreaker sweats to reveal the outfit of a professional beach volleyball player. Black microshorts, tiny enough to pass for a thong, covered her pelvis and the very tops of her ropy, muscled thighs. Above, she wore a snug sports-bra type top, ending just below her breasts and displaying the cut, banded and rippling muscles of her abdomen, shoulders and arms, accentuated by her deep, almost black tan.

Whatever moisture had managed to return to Cat?s mouth was gone in that instant, as she felt a wave of desire, far eclipsing anything she had ever known, pass over her, coating her in its liquid heat.

Dylan flashed her a grin, and Cat, though she never knew exactly how, managed to pull herself upright on legs filled with pudding. As Dylan passed close by, Cat fixed her with a look. “You expect me to actually play now?”

Dylan?s grin broadened.

“Volleyball, I mean.”

Dylan chuckled. “C?mon, Shortchange. Let?s show em what we?ve got.”

“I think you?re showing them plenty already,” Cat replied, not surprised at all to hear the note of jealousy threading its way up through her vocal cords. She could literally feel the eyes of the crowd crawling over her partner. Shaking her head to break the spell, she resolutely trailed after Dylan. “Well,” she remarked to the air at large as she assumed her place behind the service line, “at least I?m not nervous anymore.”

The whistle blew.

“Point and game, Lambert and Hodges, 15-1.”

After shaking their opponents? hands, Dylan and Cat strolled back to their shaded nook to the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd. Dylan grabbed a water bottle from an overly-attentive young line boy and chugged it down. Cat rubbed the sand from her body with a towel, and stared daggers at said line boy until he took the hint and feasted his eyes somewhere safer.

Like Afghanistan.

The game had been a walkover. Cat displayed a wicked, curving overhand serve no-one?including herself?knew she had, and Dylan was, quite simply, Dylan. Their opponents never had a chance, though they gave it a game effort.

The tournament was a modified round robin format, with the six teams broken up into two three-team groups. Each team would play the others in its group in a one game to fifteen winner take all match. Then the winners of each group would play one another for the right to face the world?s top professional two-woman beach volleyball team.

And that right would likely come with a royal butt-whipping.

Today, Thursday, was reserved for the preliminary rounds. Friday would host the group winner face off and the “championship” game against the pros.

The weekend itself was reserved for the true showpiece of the tournament, the annual three-on-three basketball pro-am.

The fans, however, were enjoying the preliminary “festivities”.

And if the beer vendor, who was so intent on ripping the rest of Dylan?s scant clothing off with his eyes that he walked into a support post and was currently wearing his product, was any indication, volleyball would be back next year for certain.

Cat looked over at Dylan, who was sitting regally in her canvas chair, looking totally cool and unruffled, and felt a brief stab of envy. Cat herself was hot, sweaty, sore, and had a pound of sand in places where sand had no place being.

She was also a hormonal wreck. It was bad enough seeing the woman of her dreams half clothed and facing her. But when Cat stood behind the service line and looked at that perfectly sculpted back, legs longer than the Nile, and a posterior worthy of the envy of every god, past, present and future, her mind was insisting on sending her images that would make a streetwalker blush.

People wondered where her wicked serve came from. She didn?t.

Sexual frustration, plain and simple.

And the very object of that frustration was walking toward her, oiled, sleek, and mouth-wateringly gorgeous.

“Ready?”

Any more ready and I?d explode into a million pieces right in front of the crowd.

She didn?t say that out loud, of course.

At least, she didn?t think she did.

By the look on Dylan?s face, however, there was a distinct possibility that her thoughts had been well and truly read.

Cat rose with a sigh. It was going to be a very long day.

Leaning her shoulder and head against the cool cement of the tunnel, Cat more or less patiently waited for Dylan to finally break away from every Tom, Dick, and Harriet who clamored for her much valued attention. She?d faced the press and crowds for a small eternity herself, but it was obvious exactly to whom they all paid homage. Which suited Cat just fine. The crowd gave her a major case of the willies.

She smiled, though, remembering one small girl, her hair all gone from chemotherapy treatments, and how she?d pushed with determination through the writhing mass, Cat?s rookie card in her small hand. Her right leg ended in a prosthesis, which made her determination all the more fierce and, to Cat, exceptional. The young girl had given her a shy, gap-toothed grin, and held up her card to be signed. Cat was, the girl said, her absolute favorite player in the whole world.

Smitten, and damn near tears, she?d signed the card, knowing that the pure, undiluted joy of that simple act would be something she would always remember.

She?d also posed for pictures with the girl, whose name was Randy, and they?d talked until her mother led her away, smiling, waving, and holding the signed card to her chest as if it was the most priceless of treasures.

Coming back to the present, Cat smiled, shook her head, and wiped the mist from her eyes.

They?d won all three of their games, of course, though the last game was a bit close for awhile. An Olympic high jumper had paired with the number three ranked tennis player to give them a match worth sweating for. In the end, however, they?d managed a 15-8 victory, and the crowd, ever appreciative of their efforts, nearly fell in on itself with joy. Cat guessed, privately, that most of that joy centered on the fact that they?d just been granted another day in which to see their Goddess in her cocktail napkin ensemble.

Cat chuckled a little at the thought.

A shower, cold and stinging, had done wonders for her disposition, if not exactly for her state of cleanliness. She could still feel fine granules of sand etching their way into her skin, and she shifted slightly, shaking one sore and aching leg to release some of the irritation.

“Come on, Dylan,” she murmured in the still air.

A tall shadow fell across her, and she smiled, looking up. Dylan was dressed in casual jeans and a crisp white T-shirt that accentuated her muscular build. Her hair was wet, shining, and slicked back away from her face, bringing her chisled features into even greater definition.

Cat felt the effects of the cold shower evaporate in an instant as another surge of warmth rushed through her body, causing a distinct weakness in her legs once again.

“Oh, what you do to me,” she breathed.

Looking down at the smaller woman, her hair still damp and slightly curling from her shower, her green eyes darkening with desire, Dylan knew that the feeling was entirely mutual. She smiled and held out a hand. “Let?s get outta here.”

Relaxing against the soft leather seat of Dylan?s rental, Cat looked on as their hotel passed slowly by on the right.

“Um?Dylan?”

“Mm?”

“Our hotel?s going bye-bye.”

Dylan chuckled. “I figured we could use some time away from the press. It?ll be a madhouse there. I don?t know about you, but I?m about interviewed out for the day.”

“True, but I was kinda hoping for another shot at a shower. I?ve got sand in places even I don?t want to know about.”

Dylan chuckled again, causing Cat to discover yet again how much she liked the sound of her laughter.

“Trust me.”

“I do.” Cat was smiling, but her eyes were dead serious.

Dylan?s gaze softened, and she took her eyes away from the road long enough to lift a hand to brush against the incredibly soft skin of Cat?s cheek. “Thanks,” she replied softly.

“No problem,” Cat replied in an equal tone.

As Dylan returned her attention to the highway, Cat rested her head against the seat, feeling the ghost of Dylan?s touch deep in the marrow of her bones.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. We?re here.”

Cat blinked her eyes open, unaware that she?d even fallen asleep. Stretching stiff and aching muscles, she groaned softly, and ran a hand over her face to clear sleep-hazy eyes.

“Where?s here?” she burred, voice hoarse from her unintended nap. “And how long have I been out?”

“About forty five minutes,” Dylan replied, coming around to the passenger?s side and opening the door for Cat. Reaching down, she eased the younger woman from the car and steadied her as she steadied herself on her aching legs.

Cat looked around, taking in a deep, bracing breath of cool, pine-scented air. “It?s dark.”

“Mm. That usually happens at nighttime, yes.”

That earned Dylan a stinging backhand to the midsection, which she absorbed easily as she began to lead her sleepy passenger up the long, secluded drive.

Cat?s eyes widened as a fairly large, low-slung house came into view among the towering pines. Through the huge glass windows came a flickering light that could only be a fire in the hearth. She looked over at Dylan. “I?I?m not too sure I?m much for company,” she admitted softly.

Dylan raised an eyebrow. “I wasn?t aware I constituted ?company?.”

“Not you, silly. Whoever?s got the fire going. They don?t just light themselves, you know.”

“Do tell,” was Dylan?s droll reply.

“I?m serious, Dylan.” She knew she sounded a bit whiney, but that?s what unintended naps did to her.

“So am I.” Relenting a little, Dylan grasped Cat?s chilled hand. “I promise you, no one is inside this house.”

Cat read the truth in the press of her hand, and nodded. Then she looked up in shock. “This is your house, isn?t it.”

Dylan grinned, reaching the mailbox and pulling out several envelopes and showing them to Cat. “I sure hope so, or else I?m paying someone else?s bills.”

Cat looked at the bills in amazement, then up into Dylan?s smirking eyes. “Wow. A house in Birmingham, one here. Are there any more hiding around?”

Dylan?s eyes lit with devilment. “Maybe,” she said with just a hint of coyness. Then, laughing, she released Cat?s hand and reached into her pocket for the house key. Inserting it into the lock, she twisted, and swung the door wide, grasping Cat?s hand once again and escorting her inside.

“Jesus,” Cat breathed, looking around at the impressive accommodations. Directly in front of her was a sunken living room with all the high tech amenities that a soul could want, fronted by an enormous fireplace that took the chill off the cool night air. “This place is gorgeous!”

“Thanks,” Dylan replied, turning the recessed lighting to a soft, warm glow. “I usually spend some time up here in the off-season. My caretaker looks after it when I?m away.”

“Now there?s a job I wouldn?t mind having.”

Smiling, Dylan led Cat over to the large French doors, their view of the world beyond shaded by vertical blinds. “I know you were looking forward to a shower, and if you really want one there?s no problem, but I thought I might be able to interest you in this instead.”

Flipping open the blinds, Dylan exposed a view of a sizable, terraced deck in the center of which was a very large Jacuzzi, lit from within and swirling and bubbling in anticipation of their visit. Next to the swirling pool was a small metal ice bucket, and inside that bucket, Cat could just see the tip of a wine bottle emerging. Two long-stemmed crystal glasses sat on a folded cloth next to the bucket, and beside them, a thin, crystal vase holding one perfect red rose.

Cat was silent for so long that Dylan began to feel a tiny sliver of uncharacteristic fear tracing its way through her belly. Looking at her partner?s shadowed profile, she softly cleared her throat. “I?um?.”

Seeing a tear trail its gentle way down Cat?s cheek brought the fear out in full force. “Cat?”

Cat turned to her then, the smile on her face breathtaking in its beauty. “Thank you,” she whispered before closing the minute distance between them and wrapping her arms around Dylan?s taut body. “Thank you.”

After a moment of near dizziness, where total relief washed away the tide of fear, Dylan enclosed Cat in a fierce embrace, holding her as if in the holding, her own life had been spared.

They parted by mutual consent. Cupping Cat?s cheek, Dylan looked into her eyes, one thumb brushing away the lone tear that had fallen. “You?re okay,” she murmured, half question, half affirmation.

Cat nodded, fingers brushing against the hand so tender on her face. Her smile was radiant, her eyes shining like emeralds under glass. Dylan was mesmerized, unable to remember her own name, let alone when or where she had ever seen such beauty before.

Taking in a deep, slow breath, she centered herself and trailed the very tips of her fingers from Cat?s cheek to her hand, smiling at the goosebumps that followed her gentle touch. Reaching out with her free hand, she flipped the lock and opened the doors, letting in cool, clean air heavy with the scent of pine. She stepped out into the night, leading Cat by the hand to the lip of the Jacuzzi.

They stopped there for a moment, still linked, as they stared up into the star-blessed sky. The moon, pregnant and ripe, smiled down on them, gilding their forms in silver and white.

Letting go a soft sigh, Dylan released Cat?s hand, facing her at an oblique angle and taking in her shining profile. Cat?s eyes were closed, face turned up to the moon as if to a lover, awaiting a kiss.

“So beautiful,” Dylan breathed, reaching out to touch the silvered hair, feeling the exquisite softness against her callused fingers.

Cat turned then, and, using gentle force, brought Dylan?s lips against hers, brushing her suppleness in tribute before melding with her, tasting her heat. Dylan?s hands came naturally to Cat?s trim waist, then slid upwards against the tight pull of her shirt, feeling the warmth and the strength of the body beneath stretched out against her own.

Cat moaned softly as Dylan parted her lips, welcoming her within, tongue stroking with indescribable softness. Reaching into Cat?s hair, Dylan took control of the exquisite kiss, drawing in Cat?s bottom lip and stroking it deftly with her tongue and teeth.

It was Cat who broke first, pulling away to rest her forehead against Dylan?s broad chest, drawing in heavy, deep breaths as her heart hammered in her ears and her body raged and quaked. Dylan held her gently and close, pressing soft kisses against the crown of her hair.

Looking up, Cat gave Dylan a tremulous smile. “I?.God!?.That was?..” Dropping her head, she groaned in frustration.

Dylan laughed softly and, after one last hug, stepped away, smiling down at the frustrated young woman. “C?mon. Let?s slow it down a little. Could I interest you in a hot soak and a little wine?”

Giving up trying to speak full sentences, Cat settled for an emphatic nod.

Without posing or pretext, Dylan unbuttoned her crisp, white shirt and casually slipped it off her broad, tanned shoulders. Long fingers made short work of the button fly of her jeans, and she slid them down the long length of her legs, stepping out and kicking them to the side with idle grace. Her undergarments were eased off, and as she straightened, she felt the weight of eyes upon her.

Standing calmly, muscles loose and relaxed, she allowed the examination, feeling the tender heat of Cat?s gaze as if she were being caressed.

“You really are a goddess,” Cat whispered, in awe of the vision she was seeing. To Cat, Dylan was perfection personified, her body flawless and without compare. It truly hit her then, where she was, and who she was with. This was her hero, the woman she had looked up to for so many years, standing naked before her, inviting her glance and her touch. Her knees weakened a bit, muscles threatening an all-out rebellion, but she hung on with a tenacity deeply ingrained. She could no more look away than she could stop breathing.

If it had been within Dylan to blush, she might have done so. Instead, she gave a crooked grin and gracefully descended the steps into the Jacuzzi. Lowering herself into the molded seat, she stretched out and allowed the heated waters to swirl against her skin.

With just a bit of uncharacteristic shyness, Cat began to fumble with her own clothing, placing her T-shirt and shorts carefully on the ground beside the tub. Reaching for the clasp of her bra, she shot a look to Dylan who, thankfully, was preoccupied with opening and pouring the wine. Quickly stripping the rest of the way, she entered the tub, immersing herself to her shoulders and sliding into a seat. She couldn?t help the groan that flowed from her lips at the feel of the heated water penetrating her skin, soothing her muscles and calming her nerves.

She looked up in time to accept wine that Dylan held for her. A slight touch of their glasses, and they sipped, enjoying the dry, subtle flavor of the wine. They sat in companionable silence for a time, enjoying the soothing waters and the clear night spread out before them.

“More?” Dylan asked, noticing that Cat?s glass was very close to empty.

Cat smiled and shook her head. “It was delicious,” she said, handing the glass to Dylan. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure,” Dylan replied, setting the glass next to her own.

Feeling an inexplicable need to be closer to Dylan, Cat slid along the seat until their thighs touched. Smiling, Dylan raised an arm, and Cat slid in closer, resting her head against one shoulder as her hand came to rest naturally against Dylan?s belly. She closed her eyes in utter contentment, happy with the world and her place in it.

The kisses started slowly, softly, trading one for another for another until they were one constant merging of lips and teeth and tongues swirling like the waters that soothed them. Emboldened by Dylan?s rising passion, Cat slid her hand up along silken skin and ridged muscle until she cupped the firm weight of one perfect breast in her hand. Dylan?s soft moan spurred her on, and she circled the pleading nipple with her thumb, then brushed directly across it.

Dylan?s response was immediate, and Cat groaned, feeling the incredibly strong body surge against her. She repeated the motion, her touches stronger and more insistent. Dylan?s mouth left hers, lips trailing against her cheeks until they found purchase on the delicate whorl of her ear, suckling in time to Cat?s caresses and causing the younger woman to forget, for a moment, what it was that she was doing as the sensations surrounded her in a molten cocoon.

“You?re so beautiful,” Dylan breathed into her ear. “So absolutely, incredibly beautiful.” Shifting a little, Dylan moved from Cat?s grasp, coming around to stand before her. Cat?s legs opened and Dylan slid into the space left there, looking down into a face more exquisite than any she could remember seeing.

Their lips met again with a fiery passion that neither could keep in check any longer. Hands roamed as heated flesh slipped and slid against its counterpart sparking small fires that blazed along wide open nerve endings. Dylan?s hands moved down to Cat?s narrow waist and pulled her forward until Cat was pressed tight against Dylan?s belly. Her arms bore her weight against the lip of the tub as her hips danced along a silken path, up and back and up again, feeling each band of muscle clench and relax, clench and relax, driving her higher and yet higher again.

Cat?s ankles locked around Dylan?s waist as Dylan eased her forward in a heated embrace. Their lips met again, crushing against one another, touching, teasing, tasting. One hand reached back, and Cat moaned as her ankles were unlocked; moaned again as Dylan stepped back, then cried out as the heat from Dylan?s belly was replaced by the promise of her hand cupping, pressing, caressing and finally filling her more fully and more deeply than any before her.

“Oh. Blessed God!” Dylan stilled her fingers, gritting her teeth against the incredible pleasure of the velvet embrace. Her own body was thrumming like a high tension wire and moisture flowed from her as from a river.

Then slowly her fingers moved, stroking gently and feeling Cat?s response in her very bones. Gazes met and locked as Dylan thrust slowly, strongly, drawing out until she was barely there, then sliding within, stretching and filling until Cat?s body was nothing but atoms, each holding an individual flame.

One touch of Dylan?s thumb and Cat was freed, spiraling into infinity. She cried out to the heavens, body gathering in around itself, muscles clenching so tightly that the breath was robbed from her lungs. Her toes curled, her fingers clamped tight into Dylan?s muscled, sweating back, grounding her in the only way she knew.

Slowly, gently, she felt herself coming back to earth, and her muscles relaxed as she felt the weight of her body drawing her away from her new lover?s fevered embrace.

“Not yet,” Dylan growled. “Oh please, not yet.”

Cat?s desire shot up again as she felt the velvet heat of Dylan pressing and gliding against her thigh. One stroke, and another, and then Dylan gasped, tipping her head forward to bury it against Cat?s shoulder as her body clenched and shook with the force of her climax. Feeling the sharp press of teeth against the tender skin of her neck, she groaned aloud and held on tightly as Dylan?s body, finally spent, came to rest against hers in a warm, and tender embrace.

Cat reclined back into a thick pile of blankets placed strategically by the fireplace. They were just close enough to be warm but not so close one would get overheated.

By the fire, that is.

The other thing in the room that was outstripping the warmth of the fire was currently she was placing the wine in the ice bucket after refilling their glasses.

Dylan smiled, looking over at her companion, who was now stretched out on her stomach with her face nestled in the thick down pillow. “Tired?”

“Deliciously. Thanks,” Cat looked over her shoulder and winked.

Dylan placed the two glasses down by Cat?s head and then placed herself next to the younger woman?s languid, and splendidly naked, body. “Glad to hear it.”

Cat rolled onto her side, facing Dylan, and running her fingers gently over dark brows. “Are you okay with this?”

“I am very okay with it. If I didn?t think we were ready for it, it wouldn?t have happened. I have amazing self control.” Dylan grinned devilishly.

“Tell me about it. You?re going along all calm while I?m taking a cold shower every twenty minutes. I was starting to look like a raisin all the time. I think that type of self control is one of those skills I?ve yet to learn.”

“Here?s a secret.” Dylan leaned in and whispered. “I took a few cold showers too.”

“Really?” For reasons she didn?t quite understand, this revelation made Cat quite happy.

“You know it. You?re hard to resist Catherine Hodges.” The tall woman leaned over and kissed her companion.

Cat made an invitation by lying back during the kiss and letting Dylan follow her, gently covering her as the kiss continued. Her hands began running over Dylan?s back, massaging the warm skin under her palms. She couldn?t help but allow little moans to roll from her lips as Dylan did a masterful job of kissing down one side of her neck, across her collarbone, and up the other side. She was trembling all over by the time Dylan stopped.

College girls have nothing on you, my dear.

The thought made her shiver once again, a pleasant twinge that centered itself over the most sensitive areas of her body. And there were quite a few of those, Cat was beginning to realize.

“Ooo don?t do that.” She wiggled under Dylan, trying to make better contact, though if the truth of the matter be known, she was almost sharing the taller woman?s skin already. Sweat that came from far more than the warmth of the fire lubricated their bodies? touch, and the feeling was more erotic than anything Cat had ever experienced before.

“What?”

“Don?t stop. I?ve waited too long for this for you to tease me.” She kissed a lovely warm expanse of neck near her lips.

“Is that so?” Dylan couldn?t help but tease her lover a little now that she knew she shouldn?t.

“Yes, please.” Cat wasn?t above begging, at least not were Dylan was concerned. She had decided months ago that she?d crawl ten miles over broken glass just to sweat in her shadow; so begging for her touch was no big strain.

“You know,” Dylan placed her mouth gently on Cat?s shoulder. “I have a big, soft bed upstairs that I would love to get you into.”

“Okay,” she managed to whimper as Dylan rose and extended a hand to her.

“Come on Sweetheart.”

Morning came far too early as far as Cat was concerned. She pulled the blanket over her head as the morning sun began to filter through the plate glass window. She rolled over to curl up next to Dylan, only to find her tall bedmate gone.

Under normal circumstances Cat would have been panicked to wake up in a strange bed alone after spending such a passionate night with a woman, but not this time. This time she felt nothing but completely satisfied and very, very, well loved.

She pushed up from the bed to find a long, blue terrycloth robe draped over the headboard?s large post. Smiling, she got up and pulled the robe on, having to cuff the sleeves several times and still she looked like a child wearing an adult?s clothing. Opening the bedroom door, she smiled at the scent of breakfast being cooked wafted up the steps. She followed her nose directly to the kitchen to see Dylan, in shorts and a tank top, sans bra, gliding to the music playing over the recessed speakers in the kitchen.

“You?re in a good mood this morning,” Cat offered as she stepped into the kitchen.

“Oh I am.” Dylan graced her with a brilliant smile as she lifted eggs from the frying pan onto Cat?s plate. “Juice in the fridge, would you mind?”

“Absolutely not.” She crossed to the large stainless steel gourmet refrigerator. Opening the door she was surprised to find all the fixings for a breakfast fit for any self-respecting carnivore. “Have you come over to the dark side?”

Dylan chuckled, “No, but there?s no need for you to starve while we?re here. I even went out and got cookware so we could feed you properly.”

“No bacon in your skillet, right?”

“Well,” Dylan blushed a bit and just shook her head, refusing to say anything else.

Cat dropped it and poured the orange juice into two glasses that had been placed on the counter. “You?re very sweet, you know that.”

“Yeah, I know, but don?t tell anyone, okay. I need people to think I?m a stone bitch.”

Cat crossed her heart as she placed the glasses and the silverware on the table. “I promise. Not a word to anyone. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Good.” Dylan winked and placed Cat?s plate on the table. “Toast?”

“Please.”

“Let me guess.” Dylan took a long appraising look at her lover. “Grape jelly.”

“And you read minds too. Impressive.” The blonde chuckled as she took a seat and waited for her companion to join her.

“No,” Dylan replied from behind the fridge door. “You just look like a grape jelly kinda girl to me.”

“I?m fond of whip cream and chocolate sauce too.”

Dylan muffled a curse as she hit her head on the frame. She peeked over the top of the door. “I can certainly get some later.”

Cat just smiled as Dylan joined her at the table. The blonde reached out and took Dylan?s hand, causing the woman to look at her. “Thank you.”

“For?” Dylan asked, using her free hand to pour them both coffee.

“Last night. It was wonderful.”

“I agree,” she leaned over and kissed Cat gently. “Thank you too.”

As they ate, Cat?s mind began to replay the events of the previous evening and after letting her mind wander to far from home a small moan escaped her lips.

“Excuse me?” Dylan smiled at the far away look in Cat?s eyes.

“Oh, well,” Cat stumbled over her excuse knowing she?d been caught. “I was umm?well?hell Dylan, you make love to a woman like the world is ending and you don?t expect her to have flashbacks?”

The brunette glanced at the wall clock, “Well, we don?t have time for a complete replay right now, but would you care to join me for a shower?”

“I?d love to.”

Dylan?s bathroom, like everything about Dylan was a religious experience. It was large; brass and Italian marble accented every surface. The shower stall wasn?t really a stall at all but another room all to itself with benches on three of the four walls and three showerheads beaming directly into the center.

Cat entered after Dylan and watched as she moved to a small panel by the door and punched in a few numbers on the keypad. “Your shower has an alarm system?”

“No, this is to adjust the temperature and pressure.”

“You?re kidding. Where in the hell did you find that?” She peeked over Dylan?s shoulder.

“Oh you can?t get them on the open market, but I had a friend in college that I helped tutor through English so he could get is degree in engineering and he created this as a gift to me.”

“Well, aren?t you special?” She kidded as the water came on at the perfect pressure and the perfect temperature.

“As a matter of fact I am.” Dylan teased as she pulled Cat under the water and kissed her quite seriously. Her hands roamed all over Cat?s flesh which was rapidly becoming quite heat, although she wasn?t sure if it was the water or their close proximity to each other

“Mmmm,” Cat hummed as her body tried the get closer Dylan. “I thought we didn?t have time for this.”

“No, I said we didn?t have time for a replay of last night. This, we have time for.” Dylan pulled a towel down from a cabinet on the wall nearest the door of the shower. Dropping it on the floor she knelt, slowly kissing her way down Cat?s body.

“Oh, I need to sit.” Cat gasped as a kiss landed on the warm, supersensitive flesh of her inner thigh.

Dylan carefully deposited her lover on the redwood bench; all the while her hands massaged her skin and her lips took tender nips from the sweet skin, causing the smaller women to jerk and wiggle as her breath came in short, hard pants.

“Dylan!”

Mischievous blue eyes looked up from their place just between Cat?s legs. “Yes?”

“Damn it! If you don?t stop teasing me, I?ll be forced to kill you.”

“As you wish.”

“Oh?my?” words were lost to the steam and the sound of the running water as Dylan, did indeed stop teasing her lover and began her explorations in earnest.

“GOD!” Cat screamed as her torso doubled over to cover Dylan?s dark hair. Both women stopped moving and Dylan felt her own heart rate returning to normal, as she listened to Cat?s gasping breath sounds, mixed with nearly sub-verbal whimpers and moans.

“You okay?” The tall woman asked softly, as she help Cat sit up on the bench and looked into her eyes.

“I?m good,” she agreed immediately and nodded. “That was just un?un?intense.”

“Can you stand up?”

“Are you nuts? Why would I want to do that?”

Dylan chuckled, “We need to shower and get going to the tournament?”

“Oh yeah,” blonde brows came together in remembrance. “That charity thing we?re doing.”

“Yeah,” Dylan pulled Cat to her feet. “That charity thing we?re doing.”

Cat bent over to retie her shoestring as they prepared for championship game. She and Dylan had beat the rest of the teams handily and were now “honored” by going up against true professional volleyball players. Neither of them harbored a dream of actually beating them, but since this was for charity, they were going to give the crowd a damn good show.

Glancing up in time to see Dylan bend over to pick up a towel, Cat found herself perversely pleased that she now knew exactly what was under the tight fitting black shorts.

Hell, I?ve fantasized about them often enough. And ooh baby isn?t reality better than any fantasy I could have conjured up!

She had to work hard to stifle an evil chuckle.

Now that they had taken the ?big? step in their relationship, she knew it was more important than ever to make sure no one else made the connection. Being out herself was one thing, but unintentionally outing her deeply closeted lover was another thing entirely, and something she prayed fervently she would never trip over.

Dear God, Cat! What in the hell have you gotten yourself into here? Were you thinking at all?

No, thinking at that point had been the last thing on her mind.

Jesus.

Well, the best thing she could do for now was to take each day as it came. Spending every waking moment looking for potential landmines would have her an emotional wreck in no time and ruin whatever shot she and Dylan had at making this work. And having had a taste of Dylan?s passion convinced her that she wanted to make this work very dearly indeed.

The ref called the four players forward and they exchanged handshakes and grins.

“Hey, Big D, it?s good to see you up and playing again. We missed ya.” Jeri Jorgensen was a six foot Swede with a mop of bone white hair and a buff, tanned body. Cat looked on, a bit stunned, as Dylan grabbed the young woman in a tight hug before releasing her and turning to Jeri?s companion.

“Hortensia.”

The woman in question, a drop-dead gorgeous green-eyed Spaniard, gave a smile that could only be described as predatory. “Dylan,” she all but purred. “How wonderful to see you again.”

One of those landmines had just buried itself at Cat?s feet, and she was finding it hard to resist the impulse to up and bitch-slap the woman into next month for staring at Dylan the way she was. Dylan, to her credit, ignored the unsubtle advances, deferred the hug Hortensia was seemingly desperate to make, and forced the woman to settle for a firm handshake instead.

Cat congratulated herself on keeping a pleasant expression on her face, and keeping herself from crushing the woman?s hand in her own when it was extended for her to clasp. Nodding to both players, she turned and trotted to her side of the court to begin her warm-ups.

As she stretched in the warm sun, she watched as both Dylan and her opponents removed their shoes to play barefoot. She knew logically it was the best thing to do, but she just couldn?t bring herself to do it. There was something about sand between her toes that made her shiver.

Taking the bottle of sunscreen offered by Dylan, she applied it to her face, forehead and shoulders. Tossing the bottle back to Dylan, she caught a small hand towel, wiped her greasy mitts and tucked it into the waistband of her shorts.

The coin was tossed and Dylan took the serving line to start the game. She waited for Cat to get into position and, after a brief second of looking at her partner?s butt, she sent the ball over the net and the game was on.

Dylan and Cat found an easy rhythm in the game, working together to try and beat their opponents. Cat, of course, had special motivation, wanting to wipe the coy little grin from Hortensia?s beestung lips, and when the much taller woman went up for a spike, she saw her opportunity. Using every millimeter of her jumping ability, she timed her block perfectly and gave her opponent a facial courtesy of the volleyball. She turned quickly before Hortensia could see her expression, though Dylan caught it and gave her that cute little raised eyebrow of hers before retrieving the ball as it rolled under the net.

At that time, they had been, surprisingly, leading by three points, but Cat?s little maneuver was all it took to make the professionals step it up into overdrive, showing one and all why they were the World Champs for three years running.

In the end, while it wasn?t a rout, Cat and Dylan took their drubbing in stride. There was nothing but good cheer as they congratulated each other and took the time to go to the sidelines and sign autographs for the clamoring fans. Dylan looked to Cat, smiled and winked, giving the younger woman a very silly, happy feeling all over.

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.

God, what Cat did to her. There was something about the way they came together that made her feel in ways she?d never felt before. That thought disturbed her on so many levels that she didn?t even know where to begin examining it. After a moment, she sighed, putting the problem on a back shelf in her mind to be mulled over later, when the time was right. Finally she looked up, unable to stop the smile that spread, unbidden, across her face.

“You were asking?”

“Oh.” Cat blinked. “Yeah. I was wondering if that was one of your regular pre-game rituals.” She said it with a hint of a tease, but Dylan could tell the question itself was a serious one.

“Sometimes,” was her honest reply.

“Oh.” After a minute, she smiled. “Well, I?ll definitely be looking forward to helping you out with those rituals in the future.”

Dylan paused briefly, nearly taken aback by Cat?s casual acceptance of her past. Then she grinned. “Me too.”

“Hello again everyone and welcome to the Lakeland Sports Pavilion, site of this year?s Children?s Cancer Initiative Pro-Am Three on Three tourney. Bob Haskell and Jan Wainright here courtside to bring you wire to wire action as ten women?s professional basketball teams, and ten lucky fans, join together to help make the dreams of sick children and their families come true.”

“It?s a beautiful day here in sunny California, Bob, and the stands are filled to capacity with cheering, excited fans. A perfect day for basketball, and a perfect day to see Pallas Dylan Lambert try out her moves once again on the court.”

“Couldn?t agree more, Jan. So with that, why don?t we bring it down to courtside and begin with the introduction of the teams for this year?s tournament.”

Kim stood off to the side, watching as the players from the other teams got introduces. She couldn?t have kept the grin off her face if someone had threatened her with bodily harm, and her cheek muscles were starting to ache something fierce. At least her stomach had calmed, thanks to the consumption of enough Pepto to plug up an elephant.

She?d already met her own teammates. Well, perhaps “met” was a bit too strong a word to use. She?d accepted Dylan?s warm handshake, but didn?t dare look her in the eyes, afraid she?d embarrass herself by fainting dead away. Touching the woman was bad enough.

Cat, on the other hand, was everything Kim thought she?d be and more. In a way, she felt vindicated. Her mother had always told her not to look up to sports and entertainment stars. They were human too, after all, and most of them, or so her mother often remarked from behind the pages of the latest People or Star, were rat bastards to boot.

But Cat had been every bit as kind and as sweet as Kim dreamed she?d be.

Besides, she had the cutest smile.

And the most awesome green eyes.

And?

Kim pinched herself once again, stopping the burgeoning fantasy dead in its tracks.

Well, at least she didn?t feel faint anymore.

Cat also stood along the sidelines, watching as the teams were introduced. The very best players from the teams elected to attend the event, and for Cat, it almost as if it were her own All-Star game.

“Someday,” she whispered.

And then it was her turn.

The crowd was quiet, waiting. When the smooth voice sounded over the intercom system, Cat felt a familiar thrill rush through her veins.

“Introducing the point guard for the Birmingham Badgers and first round pick in this year?s WBL draft, number three, Catherine Hodges!”

She ran out onto the court to the enthusiastic cheers of five thousand people, smiling and waving to the crowd as she nodded to her opponents and settled herself among them.

And then there was silence.

Absolute silence.

The expectation of the crowd was a palpable thing as necks craned, waiting for the one they had come here to see.

A low, reverberating bass hum flowed out into the stadium like an ocean wave washing onto the shore. The crowd gave an anticipatory cheer before falling silent again. The bass hum continued, drawing out the moment until it became almost painful.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, after a four year absence from the court, it is my great pleasure to reintroduce to you, wearing her retired number 34, the Female Player of the Century, the incomparable Pallas Dylan ?The Goddess? Lambert!!!”

As one, the crowd jumped to its feet, cheering so loudly that Cat thought her eardrums would burst. Still, she couldn?t help grinning as Dylan, black braid streaming behind her, ran through the gauntlet of security and onto the court, waving to the crowd and sending them into fits of near apoplexy.

“God-dess! God-dess! God-dess! God-dess!”

Five thousand voices chanted, accompanied by five thousand pairs of feet stamping and five thousand sets of hands clapping. It was nearly enough to rattle the fillings in Cat?s teeth, but she didn?t really notice, too busy clapping and stamping and chanting with the rest. Dylan gave her a little smirk before shaking her head. Cat smirked right back at her and began chanting all the louder.

Red roses flew down from the stands like fragrant rain. Bending, Dylan picked up one bloom that had landed closest to her feet and, inhaling its pleasing scent, lifted the rose and waved once again at the crowd, sending them into another frenzy that lasted for a good five minutes before finally beginning to wind down.

When at last some semblance of normalcy returned to the stadium, the players shook hands and retired to their respective benches.

Dylan pulled the soaked towel away from her face and looked back at a staring Cat, one eyebrow arched. “Problem?”

Taking the response as somewhat of an invitation, Cat slid closer to Dylan while checking to make sure they were out of the earshot of anyone else. “Are you?feeling okay?”

“Right as a trivet, as my grandmother used to say. Why?”

Cat shrugged a little, then took another quick look around. “Oh, I dunno. It?s?.” Breaking off, she sighed in frustration, and tried again. “Your game. It seems a little?off?”

“Off?” Dylan asked, straightening on the bench. “Off how?”

Cat thought for a moment. “Well, maybe not ?off? off. Maybe just?flat?”

“Flat.”

Cat was finding it hard to think with those piercing eyes all but pinning her to the bench. “Yeah. You know. Not?.” She sighed again, shaking her head. “Forget I said anything, alright? It?s stupid. I don?t know where my mind is today.”

“No. I?m interested in knowing what you?re getting at, Cat. How is my game off?” Her lips curl. “And batting those eyes at me will not make me forget the topic.”

Laughing softly, Cat pelted Dylan with her towel and moved closer until their thighs were casually touching. “You?re a nut, you know that?”

“I do try. Now quit trying to change the subject.”

“Fine.” Cat steepled her fingers and stared down at her hands. “You?re, I mean, you?re Dylan Lambert, you know? The Goddess. But you?re, kinda, playing like a?.”

“Mere mortal?”

“Yeah.” Cat felt herself blushing and wiped a hand across her forehead as if to wash it away. “Told you it was stupid.”

When Dylan turned to her, her eyes were nothing but warm, and kind. “It?s not stupid, Cat. In fact, I?m kinda flattered that you?re concerned about it.”

Wide eyes met hers, and Dylan?s smile broadened. “You are?”

“Yup.” A beat of silence. “Remember what I said, though. Bring your A game to work and leave the razzle-dazzle for the highlight films.”

“Yeah, but isn?t this almost one big highlight film?”

Dylan chuckled. “In a way, maybe, but we?ve also got a teammate who isn?t a basketball star. I think she deserves her time in the light too.”

“You?re right,” Cat replied, nodding. “I didn?t think of that.”

“Well, we already know who the brains of this outfit is,” Dylan quipped, smirking. “Looks like we?re up again. Ready?”

“Just remember, Ms. Goddess. Paybacks are a female dog.”

“Oh yeah, I?m shaking already. Tiny.”

Cat slumped down on the bench, huffing. Grabbing the towel Dylan had thoughtfully draped around her neck, she wiped the sweat pouring liberally down her face and groaned. That last game was a bit closer than she would have liked. Still, if she was honest with herself, she wasn?t really all that surprised, given that the guard she faced was none other than Shauna Keeps, hands down the best in the league.

After a friendly greeting, Cat found herself taken to school, and right properly at that. While knowing full well that the biggest gap between them was experience, she would have gladly given her left kidney to possess the fluid grace and supreme confidence that seemed to be Keeps? by birthright.

That she genuinely liked the woman made the lesson at least palatable, and she resolved then and there to get Dylan, if needed, to intercede on her behalf for some off-season lessons that would surely elevate her game to the next, much needed, level.

Dropping her towel in her lap, she turned to find Dylan looking at her, a spark of concern easily read in those too-blue eyes. “I?m okay,” she reassured her partner. “She?s just?damn she?s good.”

“She is that.”

“It really makes me wish that I had been around, you know, as a professional, when the two of you played together. Playing against her is nothing like watching it on TV. You guys must have been, God, just amazing together.”

“We were alright,” Dylan drawled, stretching impossibly long arms along the back of the bench they shared while extending even longer legs and crossing them at the ankles, completely unperturbed by their close call.

“Nothing bothers you, does it,” Cat observed with just a hint of envy.

Dylan shrugged. “Don?t sweat the small stuff.”

Cat straightened, eyes flashing. “Dylan Lambert, you are one of, if not the most competitive person I know. I can?t believe I just heard that come out of your mouth!”

Laughing softly, Dylan reached up and tousled Cat?s already tousled hair. “We had it in the bag, darlin?. The outcome was never in doubt.”

“For you, maybe,” Cat grumbled.

Dylan?s expression turned serious. “One day, Cat,” she intoned softly, “you?ll see in yourself what I see in you. Then, maybe, you?ll believe.”

Rising elegantly to her feet, Dylan left a totally stunned Cat behind.

“You and me, white bread! You and me, short shit! Yeah, you and me! I?m gonna fuck you up so high you ain?t never gonna come down!”

Cat?s nemesis, Kiesha Brown, was pulled back by her playing partner, Coral Tippets, and hustled over to the opposite bench.

“Jesus,” Cat muttered half under her breath as she tossed her towel on the bench and followed it down. “Who in the hell pissed in her Wheaties this morning?”

Dylan smirked over her water bottle, then guzzled the rest of it down. “You wanted a challenge.”

“Challenge? Damn, Dylan, if I?d wanted a prison gang fight, I?d have flashed the crowd and gotten myself arrested first!”

“Now that I would have liked to have seen,” Dylan replied, chuckling.

“Get yourself a police uniform, sweetheart, and I?ll give you a show for free.”

If she had had any water left in her mouth, Dylan would surely have choked. Crystal eyes went absolutely round, and Cat smirked, pleased to have gotten one up on her usually imperturbable partner.

“You seriously expect me to play with that image in my head, do you?”

Cat laughed. “Show me a few of your famous on-court moves in this next game, and you won?t need the uniform.”

This time, Dylan was the one left stunned on the bench as Cat sauntered away. After a moment, she broke out into a big grin, and chuckled softly, shaking her head. “One of these days, Lambert,” she murmured. “One of these days, you?ll learn that your little kitten has some mean claws.”

The sound of a whistle cut stridently through the cheering crowd, but didn?t effect in the least the two enraged women grappling over the loose ball. Over the heads of the two combatants, Dylan and Tippets shared a look and, by mutual consent, moved forward to separate their respective partners from the melee.

Grabbing Cat easily, if gently, by one arm, Dylan tugged her away from the court, signaling a time-out to the referee with one raised eyebrow and ignoring the constant stream of epithets spewing from Keisha Brown like sludge from a sewer.

Once on the sidelines, Dylan released her hold on Cat and tossed her a towel. Cat plucked it out of mid-air and angrily tossed it aside, glaring at Dylan all the while. Dylan?s eyebrow made its way back up again. “You need to stop letting her get to you,” she remarked after a moment filled with heated tension.

“Don?t you think I know that?!?” Cat hissed through clenched teeth. “In case it?s slipped your notice, oh Goddess, we?re down 9-3 here. We?re getting our asses kicked, and it?s like?it?s like?you don?t even care!!”

Dylan?s voice was very quiet. “Should I?”

The shock of her partner?s statement drained every single drop of anger from Cat?s body. She stared at Dylan as if she?d grown an extra head in the last minute or two. “I?bu?you?.what?!?”

“This isn?t for a tournament trophy, Cat. It?s not for bragging rights,” Dylan continued. “It?s for them.” One long arm swept out, indicating the line of children sitting in the front row of bleachers. “To put some happiness in their lives, if even for a moment.” She paused, then looked directly into Cat?s eyes, her own speaking with uncanny eloquence. “Do they look very happy to you?”

Following the direction of Dylan?s gesture, Cat blanched as she saw the concerned and sad expressions on the children?s faces. Shame washed through her in an incomprehensible wave. “Dear God,” she whispered. “I didn?t?oh damn.”

A warm hand on her shoulder brought her gaze back around, and she found herself bathed in the compassion of Dylan?s gentled eyes. “You?ve done nothing you can?t put right, Cat. Keisha Brown is nothing but a thug dressed up in a fancy uniform. We both know this. Don?t play down to her level. Play up to the person you know you are.”

Cat felt a smile coming up from somewhere deep inside, and she let it out, unable to stop the warm feelings that Dylan?s simple, bedrock confidence engendered in her. Dylan returned the smile and cupped her cheek briefly, before grabbing the discarded towel and swatting her lightly across the butt with it. “Now let?s get em,” she said over her partner?s outraged yelp.

Since the Badgers had received the ball on the last “tie”, Brown?s team brought it in-bounds and headed downcourt in a flurry of quick passes and fancy dribbles. Cat guarded Brown closely, refusing to be drawn into her bristling taunts and cruel teases.

“Watch my ass, dyke meat. It?s all you?re gonna see.”

With a lightning quick first step, Brown drove to the basket, only to be soundly rebuffed by Cat?s terrier-like defense. Frowning just slightly, Brown dribbled back a few steps and casually called out a play to her teammate.

Tossing the ball to Tippets, she used a spin move and got into an open space in the paint. Receiving the pass just over the outstretched fingertips of Cat, she pumped a short jumper that rattled around the rim and bounced out.

Cat jumped for the rebound.

Brown saw her chance and grabbed it. With a bull rush, she cut Cat?s legs out from beneath her, dumping the smaller woman on her knees. Hard.

Dylan arrived a second too late, and gently lifted Cat back to her feet as the whistle blew, signaling a foul. “Are you alright?” she murmured, looking down at her lover?s skinned and bloody knees.

“Yeah,” Cat replied, wincing slightly at the sting. “I?ll be okay.”

The trainer ran onto the court and, receiving a nod form Dylan, led Cat to the sidelines to tend to her scrapes. Kim looked on apprehensively, unsure whether to approach or run away screaming. She decided to stay where she was, watching Cat as she was led from the court.

Only then did Dylan allow her anger to show. She rounded on Brown, pinning the cocky young woman to the court with her glare. “You know,” she began in a soft, conversational tone that the fierceness in her pale, almost silver eyes belied, “I didn?t care when you were just talking trash. That?s all a little nobody punk like you knows. But when you deliberately set out to hurt someone, to take their livelihood away, well?that?s something I mind very much.”

“Oh yeah?” Brown shot back, failing to entirely disguise the slight tremor in her voice. “And what are you gonna do about it, you old bitch?”

“C?mon now, Kiesha,” Tippets said nervously, pulling the younger woman away. “That?s enough.”

“Fuck you, Tippets. Fuck you all.”

As Brown stomped away, Dylan slid her gaze to Tippets. “You keep a leash on that one, Coral.”

The tall woman swallowed hard. “I?ll try, D.”

“Don?t try, Coral. Do.”

Two minutes later, the combatants had taken the court once again. Cat?s knees were cleansed and bandaged, and she was walking without a limp, though the stinging was quite intense.

“You sure you?re alright?” Dylan murmured from behind her.

“Yeah,” Cat said on a released breath. “I?ll be fine. I just want to get this damned farce over with.”

The smile on Dylan?s face was one that made even Cat a bit nervous. “Oh, don?t you worry,” she replied, voice deceptively soft. “We will.”

The whistle blew, and Dylan accepted the ball from the referee, passing it crisply to Cat, who dribbled down the court and set up a play with a quick flick of her fingers. When the offense was set, she shot a quick bounce pass to Kim, which was unfortunately intercepted by Brown, who took it back to the half-court line and started forward again, a smirk writ large on her cocky features.

Cat guarded her like stink on a pig, soundly rebuffing each and every penetration move she attempted.

The smirk was growing smaller.

Just outside the paint, Dylan caught Cat?s eye and Cat nodded almost imperceptibly. This time, when Brown stepped forward, Cat laid off, and Brown, more intent on showboating for the crowd than actually paying attention to her game, took three steps before running blindly into six feet three inches of solid muscle.

She dropped to the ground as if shot. The ball dribbled harmlessly over the endline just as the referee?s whistle blew.

“Charge!”

Brown scrabbled over onto her back, her face a frozen mask of utter rage. “Charge?!? Are you fucking blind, motherfucker?!? You—”

Her words trailed off as a long shadow loomed over her, and she found herself staring far up into cold eyes twinkling with a mad sort of mirth. “You?re playing with the big dogs now.” Dylan?s low, deathly quiet voice washed over her in a paradox of honey and prickleburrs.

Trying her best to ignore the sudden tightening at the nape of her neck, Brown rose to her feet, but the nasty look she shot Dylan?s way was easily seen through.

Dylan walked back to Cat, whose face was stone, though her eyes beamed twin smiles in her partner?s direction. “Liked that, huh?”

“Would you be angry if I said ?hell yeah??”

“Nah. Little whelp deserved it.”

The two shared a quiet chuckle.

“So. We?ve got the ball. Any ideas what to do with it?”

Dylan turned to face the basket, pondering their options. The smile that broke over her face was that of a lioness who?s just spotted a wounded antelope. “I think Black-23A will work nicely.”

Cat looked at her, slightly wide-eyed, for a moment, before a smile of her own curved her lips. “Black-23A, huh? Ok, coach. You got it.”

The whistle blew, signaling return to play. Cat gave the ball a quick dribble before flipping a short pass to Dylan, then held her hands out to receive it back and start down the court. Brown gave her a bump, but she sidestepped easily and blazed straight down the center of the court. Seeing the danger, Tippets broke off her guard of Dylan and slid in to block Cat, while Brown played off of Dylan, eyes darting back and forth between the players and the ball.

At the last possible second, Cat rifled the ball back blindly over her head toward a streaking Dylan, who caught it and jumped from just inside the foul line, vaulting over the covering Brown for a thunderous dunk that drove the crowd to their feet, screaming their praise to the heavens.

Grabbing the ball, she placed it almost gently in Brown?s hands and tipped the woman a lurid wink. “There ya go. Puppy.”

The rest of the game wasn?t even close as Dylan and Cat put on a clinic, freezing their opponents in place with pinpoint passes, masterful ball handling, dunks, fadeaway jumpers and the odd hook-shot Dylan threw in just for chuckles.

Dylan Lambert was back, and it was glorious.

The game ended with an alley-oop from half court that had the delirious crowd near to climaxing from the excitement of it all. Even members of the other teams, who had come to watch the championship game, could do little but shake their heads, jaws dropping in awe. Most of them had never had the chance to see Dylan on anything but television, and the up-close and personal look was more than they ever could have dreamed.

Courteously handing the ball to the referee, Dylan braced herself as a blonde bolt of lightning launched herself into her arms, shouting in triumph. Dylan swung her around several times before carefully setting her back on her feet and draping a casual arm around her shoulders. “Not bad for an old bitch, huh?” Dylan asked, smirking.

Cat?s eyes were shining as she looked up at her partner. “Thank you.” Her tone was solemn and heartfelt.

“Thank you back,” Dylan replied, squeezing Cat close in a seemingly casual one-armed hug. “You made it easy.”

Cat?s smile was as radiant as the sunrise, and it was an image Dylan carried with her as they were suddenly mobbed by teammates, reporters, and fans pouring down out of the stands.

DRIVEN CONCLUSION

Written by: Susanne Beck and TNovan

Dylan watched across the small table, in a secluded corner of her favorite restaurant. Her normally bubbly and talkative companion was unusually quiet, taking more interest in her food than her dining partner.

“Cat, what?s wrong?”

The blonde looked up quickly, it was clear she hadn?t really heard the words. “Huh?”

Smiling, Dylan reached across the table and took the player?s hand. “I asked what was wrong.” She gave a gentle, reassuring squeeze to the fingers she held.

Cat sighed and nodded, she knew it wouldn?t do any good to try and lie her way out of this one. “I?m worried.”

“About?”

“Us.”

This was not the answer Dylan had been expecting and the expression on her face showed it as she sat back and considered her friend. “Why are you worried?”

“You?re not going to believe this.”

“Try me.”

“I?m worried that being with me could hurt you.”

“Catherine?”

Cat shook her head and looked directly into her lover?s eyes. “Hear me out.”

“All right. I?m listening, go ahead.” Dylan hadn?t released the hand she had been holding and began running her thumb over tender skin. “Tell me what?s bothering you.”

“What if we?re found out?”

Dylan considered the question and her next words very carefully before speaking. “We?ll deal with it.”

Cat steeled herself by taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “If Horace finds out about us, he?ll fire you.”

“He?ll fire you too,” the tall woman offered, logically.

“I don?t care about that. There are other teams that will take me.”

Dylan grinned and winked. “You don?t think there are other teams that will take me too?”

“That?s not what I meant. I?m out; it?s no big secret. But you?you?re?”

“Hiding?”

“No, you?re careful and I understand why. You?re a huge commodity and if you were outted it could hurt you. You?d lose your job, all your endorsements?”

“Cat, I have more money than I know what to do with. I could lose my job tomorrow and I?d be fine. I have a good financial planner, and he?s made very wise investments for me.”

The blonde gestured with her hands, not quite sure what to say. “Do you worry about anything?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“You.” Dylan leaned across the table, taking Cat gently under the chin. “Don?t you worry about me. I care for you Cat and I enjoy being with you. We?ll deal with what comes down, if anything at all and, we?ll make future decisions together. So don?t think you?re going to get all noble on me and end this relationship. If we decide to end it, it will be a choice we make together. Get it?”

“Got it.” The blonde felt happy tears in her eyes but managed to blink them back.

“Good.” Dylan sat back in her chair and smiled, gesturing to Cat?s untouched food. “Now eat because I have plans for you tonight that will require you to have an abundance of energy.”

“Oooo do tell!”

“Nope. It?s a surprise. Now eat. They killed a cow so you could have that steak.”

“Did you have to say that?”

Dylan smirked and brought her mineral water to her lips.

“Where are we going?” Cat watched as the scenery of the city passed by through the car window.

“Someplace very special.”

“I got that, can I have a clue?”

“It?s exclusive.”

“Anyone ever told you that you give truly lousy clues?”

“Very few people in my life are as straight forward with me as you are.” She glanced across the car and smiled at her companion. “That?s one of the things I really love about you. You treat me like a real person, not the ?Goddess?.”

“Now I do, before it was definitely not the case. But I must admit the real article is much better than the fantasy I had.”

Now Dylan sported a full-fledged unrepentant grin. “You fantasized about me?”

“Me and every other woman with active brain cells and hormones.” Cat turned in her seat so she could watch her lover. “You have no idea how many nights I went to sleep, staring at your poster and dreaming of being with you.

Even in the dim light of the city streets lamps they passed by, Cat could see Dylan was sporting a slight blush. “Oh please,” the blonde rolled her eyes. “Don?t even try to tell me this is news to you. You must know that women fantasize about you.”

“Well, there?s a difference between ?wondering? and ?knowing?. You?re the first person to tell me to my face.”

“Maybe later I?ll tell you about the fantasies.” Cat teased as she wriggled her brows. “Some of them were really hot.”

Dylan groaned and made a left turn into a parking garage.

As they began walking down the alley, Dylan reached over and took Cat?s hand. Feeling her tense slightly she pulled the smaller woman close and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “Relax. We?re safe here, no one will see us.”

She guided them to a non descript building, stopping under a blue awning. Cat watched as Dylan removed a key card from her jacket pocket and inserted it into a slot next to a black steel door. The light above the slot blinked from red to green and Dylan pulled the handle.

Once inside, Cat could hear loud music and what sounded like a pretty happy crowd. She held tight to the tall woman?s hand as they wound there way through a series of walls and curtains. After passing through the last curtain, Cat found herself standing on the edge of a dance floor, in a very well appointed and lush dance club.

“Wow.” Her eyes grew wide as she saw many female couples, some of them on the dance floor taking advantage of the loud, heart pounding music. Others were lined along the bar, watching the action on the floor or trying to get the attention of one of the many bartenders. Looking up she saw even more people on the second floor balcony behind glass, looking down on the crowd. “This is amazing.”

Dylan leaned down to she could speak in a volume Cat could hear that wouldn?t require her yelling over the music. “Come upstairs with me.”

“Gladly.”

Cat continued to watch the crowd, trusting Dylan completely to lead her upstairs and not to lose her in the crowd. Once they climbed the stairs and entered the second floor, the din of the music was muffled by what was apparently soundproof glass, it could still be heard, but a person wouldn?t have to scream to be heard over it.

“This place is great!”

“I thought you?d like it.” Dylan continued to lead her through the room until they had arrived at the back were there were a few empty booths. They settled down together in one side of it and Dylan pulled Cat close. “It?s a private club, for those of us who want discretion. I pay a healthy membership fee to be assured I can come here without problems. A lot of those people,” she gestured to the crowd around the balcony railing, “are people who would rather not be out either, but they want someplace to go so they can relax and be themselves.”

“I had no idea places like this existed. I assumed that people just went to the local lesbian bars and took their chances.”

“Not with this crowd.” She pointed to a tall redhead. “That one is a superior court judge.” She looked around the crowd and pointed to yet another woman. “She is on the City Council.”

Cat shook her head and she watched the second woman, place a tender, and obviously very loving kiss on the temple of the brunette that was with her. “It?s a shame people still have to hide like this.”

“Yeah it is, but they and so many others like them, have a lot to lose. This place is just the best and safest bet.”

“Well, them I?m glad it?s here. Thanks for brining me.”

“You?re welcome. I thought maybe we could get in a few dances,” she leaned over and kissed a pink ear. “Then we can go home and act out some of your fantasies.”

Now it was Cat?s turn to groan.

The soft, gentle flickering of the candles in the room caused a golden glow to shimmer off the slightly damp bodies in the bed.

Every muscle in Cat?s body was taut with anticipation and arousal. She breath let her body in long, shaky streams as her skin tingled with Dylan?s every touch, kiss and caress.

Dylan looked up Cat?s torso from her position, with her lips gently kissing the trembling stomach before her. She smiled as she watched Cat draw in a fast breath as her own hands traveled slowly up the blonde?s body, barely touching the sides of her breasts as they continued up her arms. She glanced quickly at each of her lovers? hands, which had a death grip on the silk scarves tied to the bedpost.

The scarves were tied, but Cat wasn?t. This wasn?t an exercise in light bondage; this was an exercise in patience, in erotica, in trust. Cat could let go anytime she wanted, but she didn?t want to let go. She wanted this feeling to last all night and she had a feeling from the way Dylan was taking her time that it would be daylight before they finally found sleep.

Cat had told Dylan some of her fantasies and with a wicked, playful grin, the brunette had agreed that playing some of them out could be very stimulating and satisfying.

Arriving home from the club they had wasted no time in beginning a mutual seduction. Cat had confided that she wanted to give herself to Dylan in any way the other woman desired. For Dylan, it was an erotic rush like no other to hear Cat?s admission. No one in her life had ever offered such a pure gift before.

With gentle questioning of the blonde, Dylan had set the scene. Candles had been lit, soft music played in the background, giving them just enough to set the pace by, but yet not to be distracting.

For Dylan, Cat?s total submission did not equal domination. The tall woman was well aware it was her lover who actually held all the power because of the depth of the emotion she was feeling for her partner at this very moment as her hands and lips loved the body under her. If Cat asked for the moon, Dylan would drag it to Earth for her.

And Dylan was determined that Cat shouldn?t regret sharing her most intimate fantasies. She wanted the experience to garner her more trust so that they could share more.

More.

That was a new word for Dylan. To want more from a lover. As she placed a kiss to Cat?s neck, feeling the shiver from her partner, Dylan realized that she could be falling hard for the blonde.

“Tired?” She whispered softly, licking Cat?s lobe.

“No.” The soft admission, punctuated with a small moan, made Dylan smile.

“I could love you all night like this.”

“Good.”

Their lips met and Dylan knew it would be long, loving night. Tomorrow would be soon enough to take these new emotions out and examine them.

The early morning sun laid lazy stripes across the huge bed, creating interesting patterns along the long, lean, muscled body occupying that bed. Turned to her side and propped up on one elbow, Cat traced the sun dapples on Dylan?s body with one of the silken scarves, watching gooseflesh break out across her palette. She turned a smile to her lover, then froze as eyes gone to deep indigo pierced through her, turning her insides to molten heat.

“Sweet Jesus,” she whispered, dropping the scarf and rolling into Dylan?s waiting arms.

The kiss that followed was incendiary, tearing the breath from her lungs and the thoughts from her mind. She moaned as she glided across sweat-slick skin, sure beyond telling that nothing had ever felt this good. Until, that is, teeth grazed softly over her neck and lips latched on, suckling gently at her bounding pulsepoint.

“Dear God, Dylan, please don?t?.” Buried beneath a heap of clothes in the corner, a cellphone chirped self-importantly. “?stop.”

Dylan eased away, earning a long, drawn out groan of protest. “They can leave a message,” Cat growled, searching out her lover?s kiss-bruised lips.

“That?s the third time in an hour,” Dylan replied, turning her face slightly away so the kiss landed on her cheek. “It might be important.”

“This,” Cat countered, pressing herself into the hot, firm body beneath her, “is important. That can easily be crushed into a million tiny little pieces if it doesn?t shut up?right?now!”

As if hearing the threat, the phone quieted.

Then started up again, causing Cat to grit her teeth, jump up from lover and bed, and stalk over to the innocent heap of clothing, pawing through it until she came up with the phone and flipped it open. “What?!” she barked.

There was a long pause.

“Alright, whoever this is, you?ve got exactly one second to start talking. And it damn well better be an emergency or there?s going to be some serious hell to pay!”

Another pause, shorter this time. Then a hesitant voice came over the line. “Cat?”

Cat?s eyes widened. “Dad?”

“Yes, sweetheart. Where are you?”

“Where am?wait a minute. Where are you?”

“At the airport, Cat,” her father replied patiently. “You were supposed to pick us up, remember?”

The sensation of blood rushing from her head was one Cat hoped not to repeat in the future.

Noticing the sudden paleness to her lover?s features, Dylan started to rise, only to be waved back by Cat as she turned slightly away from the bed. “God, I?m so sorry, Dad. I overslept.”

“Overslept? Honey, that?s not like you.” A break in the conversation treated Cat to her mother?s muffled voice demanding to know what was going on. “Your mother wants to know?.”

“Yes, I heard her. Look, I?m really sorry, Dad. I was up really late last night?studying plays for tonight?s game.” The lie tasted sour and foul in her mouth, and she turned further away from what she was sure was a hurt look on Dylan?s face. “I?ll jump in the shower real quick and be there in less than an hour.”