Storm Surge

Chapter Five

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Can I touch it?" Mike asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They all fell briefly silent as they started breakfast, and Kerry was left in peace to think about Mike's first question.

Why. Why had she really gotten the tattoo? For herself? For Dar? Kerry chuckled a little under her breath and shook her head. She still really didn't know for sure. "So anyway." She broke the quiet. "I love the thing. Dar was in New York when I got it, and I had a day or so to let it heal before I showed it to her. I could see it was going back and forth in her mind if she wanted to get one too."

"Kerry?" Mike looked up. "Thanks for making breakfast. This rocks."

Angie looked around, but the two servant women had retreated back to the kitchen. "Yeah," she said. "Thanks. I know I used to make brownies, but I have no idea how to tell these people to make things I like."

Kerry waved a fork at them, busy chewing.

"Have you decided what you're going to speak about at the banquet tonight?" Angie asked. "You know, Marga Smithton called me last night and said she saw us in the restaurant with Mom and she said everyone's been talking about it."

Kerry rolled her eyes.

"Hey, slow news week," Her sister held a hand up. "C'mon, Kerry. You used to live here. How many weeks did duck racing make the front page?"

Kerry swallowed and wiped her lips with her napkin. "They need to get a life," she said. "I've figured out two different ways to go tonight, and it depends on how they react when I get there. Either they're going to get my professional presentation, or they're going to get the radical biker dyke. All up to them."

Both her siblings blinked at her.

"Ah. Forgot to tell you I got a motorcycle too." Kerry grinned, and took a sip of her coffee. "Actually, it was a joint purchase. Dar and I use it down at the cabin in the Keys," she explained. "Which by the way, you both have to come down and stay some time."

"I'll take you up on that," Mike said. "Can I ride the bike?"

"Sure." Kerry could still sense the faint waves of shock rolling around the table. "We go down on weekends a lot and just bum around there. It's quiet, and it's right on the water, I love chilling out on the beach in front."

"Sounds gorgeous." Angie recovered and picked up the conversation again. "Is it a long drive?"

"Well, it's about an hour and a half, I guess, but we also take the boat down there and that's a little longer. We don't care though because we stop and dive on the way down."

"Man," her brother shook his head, "what a life."

Kerry smiled and took a forkful of pancake to eat. She felt a faint buzz in her pocket and pulled out her phone, setting it on the table and opening it. "Excuse me." She put the forkful down and pressed the answer button. "Kerry Stuart."

"Hello, Ms. Stuart?" a male voice answered. "This is ops. We have kind of a situation here and we need someone to make a decision."

"Called the right person." Kerry regretfully glanced at her plate. "Go on. What's the problem?"

"There's a new sales account, the International Cellular group?" the tech ventured. "Do you know about them?"

"Sure," Kerry said.

"Okay, well, they were supposed to come live next week, but it turns out their stuff came early so they want to bring up the circuits into the network, but the change control's not ready."

Ah. Kerry leaned back and folded her arms, considering the issue. "Does Mark have the network provisioning ready?" she asked.

"He says he can have it."

Ah. Kerry almost laughed. That meant everyone really wanted to help out their new customer, and no one wanted to stand on procedure--but no one wanted to cross her strict insistence on documented change control either.

Only Dar would casually do that, and often did. But to be fair, if anyone else asked Dar if they could do it, Dar sent them to Kerry. She reserved the right to bypass the rules for herself and Kerry had accepted that without much qualm, not only because Dar was her boss, but because she trusted her instincts.

"Okay, you have my verbal approval to proceed, so long as Mark files the paperwork in the system and it comes up after business hours."

"Right oh, ma'am." The tech sounded happier. "Mark's on the way to do that now. Thank you!"

"Anytime." Kerry hung up the phone and went back for her fork, glad the issue had been simple.

"So who was that?" Angie asked.

Kerry held up her finger, and managed to get a mouthful of her breakfast. She patiently chewed it and swallowed. "Our operations center in Miami," she said. "We put some new policies and procedures in place and they're determined to stick by them."

"So you really do run that place, huh?" Mike said.

Kerry nodded, but kept eating.

"She does," Angie said. "I don't know if Mom googled you last night, but I did. Holy bananas, Kerry. You're an executive vice president."

"Uh huh." Her sister nodded again.

"So, I have a question. "Angie leaned forward a little. "If you make what you do, and Dar makes what she does, and you live in a gillion dollar condo on some ritzy private island, and you own a boat, and a snazzy cabin in the Keys--why the heck do you cook for yourself and drive your own car?

Kerry stopped chewing and looked up at her, head tilted slightly to one side. After a second she hastily swallowed and picked up her coffee cup, washing her mouthful down. "Huh?"

"Yeah." Mike had no such worries. He plowed through his pancakes as he talked. "How come you don't have a half dozen people chasing after you holding your briefcase? I could be one of them."

How come? Kerry was honestly perplexed, never having even considered anything remotely like it.

"Well," she said, after a long pause. "I like cooking, and I like driving. Why would I let someone else do it for me?"

She looked at her siblings, and they looked back at her, and she suddenly felt the gulf between them like it was a physical void. It was strange, and upsetting, since she'd grown up in this same type of home, in this same type of environment and yet living like her sister lived, like her mother lived, was as alien to her as winter had come to be.

"Huh." Mike grunted. "I like people doing things for me. Who likes to do laundry and stuff? I'd rather have clean clothes appear like magic."

"Me too," Angie agreed. "If I didn't have someone helping me with Andrew, I'd go crazy."

Kerry sucked on her fork tines then shook her head. "I don't have time in my life for that," she said. "It's way too complicated, dealing with people doing stuff for me. It's a lot easier to do it myself."

Angie looked at the plate, and then she chuckled and shrugged. "Well, no one can argue. You know what you're doing, sis. Whatever makes you happy."

"Right on," Mike agreed. "You can cook for me anytime."

"Thanks." Kerry went back to her breakfast, more than a little bemused. "Now can we shut up and eat? Before I have to get up and cook it all over again?"

"Oo--she's the boss."

DAR TOOK ADVANTAGE of being slightly behind Alastair to take a moment to pull her cuffs straight as they stood waiting to enter the sturdy oak doors to the conference room. She then put her hands together over her leather binder, shifting her shoulder a little under the weight of her laptop case as she listened to Alastair's cheerful chatter with their hosts.

She was the only one with a laptop, naturally. The rest of the team with them were sales executives, who had thick leather portfolios clasped under their arms, dark suits, light shirts, classy ties and appropriately confident, but reserved expressions.

Like theirs, Dar's business suit was a conservative charcoal grey, but that's where the resemblance stopped. She was wearing a knee length skirt and a creamy beige silk shirt, and her lapel was impudently decorated with a jewel encrusted microchip just to drive the point home that she wasn't one of the front of the house boys.

Nerd. Dar licked her lips and hid a smile, straightening her shoulders as she heard the doors start to open, and the chatter died down.

"Well, here we go." Alastair turned, glancing behind him as if to make sure Dar was there. "Ready, lady?"

Dar wrinkled her nose at him, and chuckled.

"Gentlemen," the polite man opening the door paused, "ah, and lady. Please come inside. Welcome."

"That's twice in sixty seconds," Dar muttered, as she followed Alastair inside, the rest of the team deferring to her. She glanced around as she crossed the thick carpet, appreciating the high ceiling and expansive proportions of the conference room.

At the head of the table sat Sir Melthon Gilberthwaite, who was such a stereotypical forties movie style British magnate Dar half suspected there was a film crew around somewhere. Seated next to him was Hans, who solemnly winked at Dar as their group entered.

"Ah, Sir Melthon." Alastair advanced confidently. "It's good to see you again."

"McLean," the magnate barked gruffly. "Good start. You lot showed up on time. I hate slackers, like this godson of mine."

Hans smiled benignly.

Alastair reached the table and took Sir Melthon's extended hand in a firm grip. "We try not to slack, though I have to tell you this time difference smacks the heck out of us." He released the man's hand and turned. "Let me introduce my team here."

Dar stood quietly waiting, letting Alastair's genial introductions of the sales team roll past her as she waited her turn. She was pretty sure that he would introduce her last as he usually did when they were in a group. She wasn't sure if it was something to do with her being a woman, or just her being her, but she realized the magnate at the end of the table was waiting as well as he looked right at her the whole time.

"And of course, our Chief Information Officer, Dar Roberts," Alastair concluded, turning to give Dar a nod, "the architect of our infrastructure."

"Sir Melthon." Dar inclined her head in response, meeting his eyes. "It's good to meet you."

The magnate stood up and walked around the table to where she was standing, shooing the others out of the way. He stopped in front of her, his head nearly but not quite even with hers, and put his hands on his hips. "You the git who kicked my godson in the rear?"

"I am," Dar replied mildly, aware of Alastair's widening eyes behind him.

"You're one of those smart mouthed women, aren't you?" Sir Melthon accused. "One of them who think they know everything?"

"Absolutely," Dar agreed. "I wouldn't be here otherwise. I don't waste my time on small potatoes and two bit thinkers." She could hear the air being sucked out of the room around her, and wondered if the two European sales managers were going to pass out right on the conference room floor. "I don't think you do either."

Sir Melthon grunted. "Hah." He turned and went back to his chair. "What's the world coming to, hah?

Foreign women in my boardroom. Scandalous!" He looked at the rest of them. "Well, you idiots! Sit down! You think I'm going to talk to you getting a crook in my neck? Especially that smart mouthed woman! Sit!"'

Everyone hastily grabbed for a chair except for Dar, who meandered around to the other side of the table and set her laptop case down first before she took a seat in one of the comfortable leather chairs. "Nice," she commented to Hans in German.

"It will get better. He likes you," Hans advised her, in a low mutter. "I think perhaps he wants to take you to bed."

Dar nodded, steepling her fingers as the sales team prepared their presentation. "Did you tell him I was married?"

"I did so," Hans replied, in a regretful tone.

"To another woman?"

The German half shrugged. "Not so much."

Dar chuckled under her breath and removed her laptop from its case, opening it and starting it up. "This is going to be a party I can tell already. He's going to love it when Kerry gets here." Hans smiled and folded his hands over his stomach, beaming contentedly at the room.

"THAT IT?" Kerry nudged the box she'd carried and lifted into the flatbed of the pickup into place. She stood up and dusted off her hands, glad she'd decided to keep her tank top on to work in as the afternoon sun warmed her skin.

"Ugh. I hope so." Mike sat down on the tailgate of the truck. "That was hard work."

"You carried three boxes." Kerry took a seat on the edge of the truck side, resting her elbows on her knees and removing the pair of leather work gloves she'd put on. "Give me a break."

Mike looked up at her. "Hey. We're not all athletic like you are." He swung his legs a little, watching his sister out of the corner of his eye as they waited for Angie to join them. As he'd expected, Kerry did in fact have visible muscles, but they weren't the kind you saw on sports shows or in those freaky infomercials.

They were just there, along her arms and shoulders, under the skin where you could see them move when she did. They didn't look bad, he decided, and they didn't look like a guy's, either. But with her cropped hair they presented a picture of her that didn't match the one he'd held in his head for a very long time.

She leaned back and crossed her ankles, resting her hands on the truck side and tipping her head back to look up at the sky, and Mike felt suddenly that this was a person he really didn't know that much about. "Hey Ker?"

"Hm?" She rolled her head to one side and looked at him. "Just kidding, Mike. I'm glad you showed up even if you didn't carry a box. It's good to see you."

He grinned. "I was gonna say pretty much the same thing. So much crap has gone on the last couple of years, it's been a bitch, you know?"

"I know," Kerry agreed. "It's been tough for me--all that stuff."

"Yeah."

"I'm glad I have Dar's family around," Kerry said, gazing at her work boots. "I don't think I was ready to not have anyone but me and her. I missed having people around me and her folks are amazing. They're at our place now, dog sitting."

"They seem really cool," Mike agreed. "Dar's mom scares me."

Kerry chuckled. "She's hilarious. There's so much of her in Dar, and neither of them will admit it. Dar looks like her Dad, but really her wit is just like her mom's."

Mike got up and climbed into the bed of the truck with her sitting down next to Kerry. "We had some fun before, though. It wasn't all bad, growing up together. I didn't think so, anyway."

"There were good times," Kerry said. "I had fun with you and Angie. I wish we could have stayed like--around ten. Once I started growing up is when things got weird." She pondered the boxes around them. "I'm really glad I didn't figure out I was gay until I left home."

"That didn't go over really well," Mike agreed. "Was it weird for you?"

Kerry thought about those long, confusing days, and after a moment of silence, she nodded. "It was really hard. For a while I wasn't sure. I knew if I had to tell the folks it would be the end of me being a part of the family." She paused. "I thought a lot about whether it was worth it."

"Telling them?"

"Living," Kerry answered briefly.

Mike turned and looked at her with a shocked expression.

Kerry looked back at him. "You have no idea what it's like," she said. "Being hated that much for something you can't change."

Mike was silent for a minute. Then he nodded. "You're right. I have no idea what that's like. I think--well, I know the folks thought you were just being stubborn, or rebelling or whatever." He frowned. "It was like, why did you have to do that?"

"For a long time I didn't. I lived with knowing I was going to have to say something sometime, but I was too scared to take the next step, until the day I met Dar." She studied her hands, her thumb rubbing against her ring. "Then I knew I couldn't pretend anymore. I had to fish or cut bait, as they say in the marina."

"Ang and I felt..." Mike paused, "well, we kind of felt like you picked Dar over us."

Kerry glanced up at him. "Actually what I did was pick me over the rest of you," she answered. "I decided my being happy was more important than my family, and you have no idea how much it hurt to have to make that choice."

Mike was quiet for a few minutes. They both looked up hearing the house door close, and saw Angie making her way toward them with one last box. "I'm glad you picked you, Ker," he said, in a serious tone. "You're one of the few people I know who, honest to God, is happy."

"Hey you two." Angie thumped the box down. She was in jeans and a sweatshirt. "That's it. I'm over packing. Anything else goes to charity." She pushed the box into the truck and sat down on the tail. "Jesus, what was I thinking keeping all that stuff?"

"Eh." Kerry leaned back again, relaxing. "I have to admit, if I had to move now with all the toys and gear and what not Dar and I have, I probably would need to hire a moving company myself. So are we ready to get this stuff over to Mom's? I need some time to get changed for the shindig tonight."

"You going like that?" Angie pulled one knee up and wrapped her hands around it. "I have to bring the camera for Mom's face if you do."

Kerry considered it, then a cool draft hit her between the shoulder blades and she looked up at the sun. "Nah." She decided. "I'll throw a sleeved shirt on. I'm going to freeze my ass off if I don't and it's not worth the freak out." She got up and went to the other side of the truck, putting her hands on the side and vaulting over it to land with some grace on the other side.

"Okay, we'll wait out here for you," Angie agreed.

Kerry raised her hand and waved as she trotted off toward the house, taking her gloves off and stuffing them in her belt as she went.

Angie leaned back against the wall of the truck and reviewed her pile of stuff. "Not that Mom's not going to freak out as it is, us pulling up in a pickup in jeans," she remarked. "But what the hell. Kerry didn't rebel until her late twenties, maybe it's our turn."

Mike eyed her dubiously. "You're not going to get a tattoo are you?"

His sister gave him a look.

"Just asking."

KERRY DROPPED INTO the swing in the solarium, glad to get off her feet after a day of hauling boxes. She looked around at the quiet, glass lined room, the air rich with the scent of carefully tended plants around the borders of the room.

It was quiet here, though she could hear voices through the door coming from the direction of the hall where she'd left her sister getting her things arranged in their new surroundings. Surely though this house was almost as familiar to her as her own since she knew Angie spent a lot of time here.

Ah well. Kerry let her head rest against the chain holding the swing up, savoring the peace around her. She'd always loved the solarium, and now as she leaned back and gazed around her, she allowed memories of scampering around hiding behind the plants surface in her mind's eye.

It smelled so green, and there was so much for a small child to look at-plants with their big leaves, and the rich potting soil, and the occasional ladybug to capture and watch.

She glanced back into one corner, where there were now rose bushes, but once had been a stand of potted pines, clustered in a clump she'd learned to worm her way into and which had provided a haven for her. She could still, to this day, remember the Christmas tree scent.

She stretched her arms out along the back of the wooden bench seat, and rocked back and forth a little, looking up as she heard footsteps to see her mother approaching. Inwardly she bit off a curse, not really wanting to face an interaction with her at the moment.

"Ah, there you are, Kerrison," Cynthia Stuart said. "My goodness, what a lot of work you children did."

"It was," Kerry had to agree, as her mother seated herself on the bench across from her. "But we ended up with a lot of stuff that can go to charity, and I think Angie's happy to have her things the way she likes them."

Her mother smiled. "I think so too. I have to say it will be nice to have at least one of you back in the house. It's been so quiet."

Kerry relaxed a trifle. "You should have seen us last night. We ended up locking Mike in the truck and having a pillow fight in the living room. Sure you want that much excitement around?"

"Did you really?" her mother asked. "My goodness and you're all grown up."

"We're still brothers and sisters." A smile crossed Kerry's face. "We had fun."

"It certainly sounds like it," Cynthia said. "I'm very glad you have had some time to spend with Angela and Michael. I know they have both missed you."

"I'm glad too," Kerry answered.

Her mother cleared her throat. "So you're speaking at the reunion tonight?"

Kerry nodded. "They asked me to. I wasn't going to go."

"Why not? After all, you were going to be here this week."

"I just didn't want to." She'd gotten the invitation.

Dar had even encouraged her to go, and had said she'd work around the Europe schedule to be there if Kerry wanted to, and wanted her there. "I don't much like being the celebrity freak show, I guess."

Her mother straightened. "Oh, but surely that's not the--" She paused, and frowned.

That, at least, made Kerry smile, if only a bit wryly. "Anyway, I'll do the speech then we're going out to the pub for dinner," she said. "So I guess we should get back to Angie's old place so I can change." She stood up, stretching her body out and reaching back to free her shortened hair from her polo shirt collar.

"Ah, yes of course," her mother said, rising hastily. "We thought perhaps we could all have brunch here tomorrow. Would that fit in your schedule?"

Kerry's ears twitched. "Sure," she answered, after a moment's hesitation. "I think we're done with packing. What time?"

Her mother looked pleased. "Eleven, I believe," she said. "Just the family, really. I want to get a chance to chat with all of you alone."

Uh oh. Kerry nodded. "Sounds like fun," she answered, reasoning that at least if they all were there, the subject could hardly be anything relating to her, personally. "Well, let me get going." She eased past her mother and ducked under an errant limb, heading back into the hall where she could see her brother standing.

"Kerrison?"

Urg. Kerry paused and turned, giving her mother a questioning look.

"I do like that haircut on you. It frames your face very nicely."

Kerry ran her fingers through the layers near her eyes and produced a brief grin. "Thanks. It got so hot this summer I had to get rid of some of it. I like it, though. I may keep it this way." She turned and slipped out of the door and back into the lit entryway, where Angie was now also waiting for her. "Hey. Ready to go?"

Angie glanced past her to see their mother emerging, and then gave her sister a wry look. "Ready if you are." She slid her small clasp purse under her arm. "Mom, see you tomorrow."

Cynthia waggled her fingers at them, as they stood together for a minute. "So nice to see the three of you together. We must get some pictures at brunch."

They got out the door, and Kerry realized a second later that not bringing a jacket wasn't the brightest thing she'd ever done. The cool air blew right through her polo shirt, and she was really glad she'd decided against wearing the tank. "Brr." She rubbed her arms with her hands. "Where'd the damn sun go?"

Mike snorted. "Boy did your blood thin."

Kerry didn't deny it. "Hey, it was ninety three degrees when I left," she protested. "I'm used to walking outside in a bathing suit in September." She scooted ahead of them and unlocked the truck door, sliding inside and shutting it after her to block the wind.

Angie got in the passenger seat, laughing, and Mike slid in the jump seat also chuckling. "It must be so bizarre not to have winter." Angie shut the door as Kerry started the engine. "I can't imagine it"

"We have winter." Kerry put the truck in gear and pulled around the big stately driveway. "We have at least two days where it drops below sixty. Dar and I make hot chocolate and wear our footie pajamas." She turned and waited for the big iron gates to open, and then eased out onto the road, looking both ways first. "I don't miss it. I like not having to think about putting layers of clothing on and being able to go swimming at midnight the whole year."

"Do you? " Mike poked his head over the seat. "Go swimming at midnight?"

Kerry had stopped at a traffic light, and now she turned and looked at him. "Yeah," she admitted. "When we get home from work sometimes, or in the ocean when we're down at the cabin. We've got a little cove all to ourselves."

"You guys swim naked?"

"MIKE!" Angie slapped him. "Of course they don't!"

"Well, actually we do." The light changed, and Kerry moved forward. "Sometimes," she answered, smothering a grin as she heard Angie nearly swallow her tongue while her brother chortled with glee. "Rebellion has its good points, y'know."

"Oh my god."

"Sweet!"

THE SALES PITCH over, it was time to get down to the real business.

"We understand that there are companies here with a lot more built out infrastructure." Dar faced the room, holding the remote for her presentation laptop in her right hand. "So your likely question for us is, how in the hell are we going to support this application until we can catch up."

Sir Melthon grunted.

"It's a good question." Dar clicked the control, and her laptop obediently responded with a lively, pulsing display, projected against a silver cased, insanely expensive screen set up at the far end of the table. It displayed a reasonably scaled diagram of their global network, long lines of green and blue tracing across the planet.

"Animated, eh. At least that's more interesting than the last idiots," Sir Melthon interrupted, "bloody boring the lot of them. You put me to sleep, woman, and you can go sell your slides out on the street."

"That's live, isn't it, Dar?" Alastair remarked from his seat next to Sir Melthon, drawing both the magnate's attention and that of the two men on the other side of him that had been introduced as his business leaders for the project. "That screen there?"

"Live?" One of the men leaned forward. "Do you mean to say that's showing a real time view of something?" He looked around. "What the devil are you connected to?"

"It is," Dar responded. "This is a reflection of the main operations console at our commercial headquarters in Miami, Florida." She went on. "I have a cellular link-up to our international gateway and we're backhauling the signal from there."

The man studied her. "Sorry, go on," he murmured.

She reviewed the screen. "As you can see, we are very built-out in North America, but we also have a significant presence in South America, India, Africa, and the Far East."

The man got up and walked around to get closer to the screen.

"We do have a basic set of pipes in Europe." Dar manipulated the control and a set of green lines grew brighter, across the European continent. "But since we size the infrastructure to the business, we haven't upgraded the port speed to provide a high capacity full mesh. Yet."

The man looked at her. "How long will it take you to do that?" he asked, sharply.

Dar studied the screen for a moment. "Two months," she answered.

"That's not possible," the other man next to Sir Melthon said. "We know it isn't, I'm not being a fly in the ointment here," he said, as Dar turned toward him. "We did a study to put our own network in. It would take over a year, and that's why we're looking to outsource."

"Two months, " Dar repeated, unmoved. "We have a certain degree of leverage."

The man looked at Sir Melthon, and shook his head.

"McLean, is this rot?" Melthon turned his head and peered at Alistair. "I don't need a load of hot air. I have a wife for that."

Alastair didn't turn a hair. "Nah," he said. "If Dar says two months, it's two months, and probably earlier," he said. "She rebuilt an entire networking center in one night, y'know. Reliable as the day is long."

The magnate snorted. "You willing to lay a bet on that?" he asked. "You do it in time or the whole deal is off, how's that for a bet?"

"Sure." The genial Texan didn't so much as glance at Dar. "But I'll tell you what, we do it in two months, and you toss in a contract for the rest of your network. How's that for a bet?"

Dar stood quietly waiting, gaining a new appreciation for her boss's always surprising wheeling and dealing side she didn't get to see very often. Usually she was pulling Alastair's ass out of the fire. This time, they were both playing a somewhat dangerous game of poker that was making the sales reps eyes bug out.

Sir Melthon studied the gray haired man sitting next to him, his hands resting relaxed on the table.

"Sir," the man next to him murmured, "this sounds dangerous."

"Hah!" the magnate barked suddenly. "Damn straight it does." He turned to Dar. "Well, smart mouthed woman, get to talking. We've got a bet on." He held a hand out to Alastair. "Good enough for you, McLean?"

"Absolutely." Alastair took his hand and gripped it firmly. "Dar? You were saying?"

Everyone turned back to Dar, and she collected her train of thought looking back at the screen. "As I was saying, the question is, how do we support this project until I can upgrade those pipes?" She illuminated two other lines, a pulsing blue one that landed in London, and another in Germany, with a heavy tracing of smaller, green lines between them. "Here's how."

"Wait." The man still standing near the screen held up a hand. "This is our premier product. We can't rely on a single line back to the States. What if it goes down? Even for--ah...two months?" His voice expressed extreme doubt.

Dar walked over to her laptop and put the control down, trading it for her keyboard which she studied for a moment before she started typing. "Here's the average response time across that circuit to our London hub." She enhanced the display, showing the statistics of the two links. "Here's what happens when it goes down." She executed a few keystrokes, and the blue line landing in London went dark.

"B..." One of Dar's own sales reps started to stand up.

The rest of the map fluttered, and then the pulsing settled down, the link into Germany growing brighter, and the lacing of green lines expanding to take up the slack. The response time counter, in its small box, remained steady.

Dar let the silence go on for a moment, and then smiled. "I like to sleep at night." She reopened the link and it surged back into place, the map giving that little flutter again. She glanced over at Sir Melthon, catching him with his jaw slightly open. He scowled at her and shut his mouth with a click. "So our proposal is that we will support your infrastructure from our Miami offices until a local hub is in place."

"With local staff?" The man near the screen rallied weakly.

"Of course," Alastair said. "Do you know how much it costs to relocate people from Oklahoma?" He chuckled. "I've told the boys here to get ready to move fast, and bring in as many good people as they can find."

"Hmph."

"We're expecting to start up a support center with at least one hundred people," David spoke up. "And Francois here is handling the logistics and distribution facility near Nantes."

The men looked at Francois, who merely nodded, keeping his fingers pressed against his lip.

"Hah!" Sir Melthon barked again. "What a pack of smart alecks you lot are." He turned to Alastair. "Lunch. Then we'll get down to pen and paper. I've had enough egghead chatter for the morning." He stood up and headed for the door, clearly expecting them to follow.

Dar chuckled and went to her laptop to shut it down. "You know what this business is like sometimes Hans?"

"Pig's tail soup," he answered succinctly. "But he does like you, of that I am sure," he reassured her. "It is mostly an act, yes? That Lord of the British empire loudness."

Dar closed the lid on the machine. "Wait until he sees Alastair's contract terms," she advised him. "That's mostly an act too, that Texas good old boy stuff."

"Ah." Hans got up and joined her as they walked to the door, the last to exit the room. "So it seems with the big shots acting, the truth of the situation then depends on you."

Dar held the door and smiled. "We'll soon find out."

"That we will."

KERRY TOWELED HER hair dry and paused in front of the bathroom mirror, regarding her reflection. She hung the towel around her neck and leaned on the marble countertop, wrestling with that age old question of women everywhere.

What to wear.

Normally, it wasn't much of an issue for her. She had work clothes, and she had casual clothes, and she had scroungy old rags in abundance. Twice as many as Dar, in fact, and she didn't often spend much time deciding which category to put on.

However, Kerry studied the pale, green eyes in the mirror.

"I think I feel like being a grown up tonight," she announced, putting aside the fleeting notion of wearing jeans to her speech. She finished drying herself off and put on her underwear, leaving the bathroom and crossing the carpet to where she'd laid out her choices.

Without hesitation, she lifted up the crisply pressed suit and hooked the hanger on the silent butler, sliding the jacket off and laying it across the seat as she loosened the silk, ice blue shirt and prepared to slip it over her shoulders.

A soft knock at the door made her eye the closed panel with some wariness. "Yes?"

"It's me," Angie's voice answered.

Slipping the shirt on, Kerry started buttoning the sleeves. "C'mon in." She glanced over as her sister entered, shutting the door behind her. "Hey."

"Hey." Angie dropped down onto the bed, leaning on one hand. "That's a nice blouse," she said. "So you're not going to go strapless?"

"No." Kerry smiled, finishing her sleeves and fastening the front closed. "I decided to present my professional side. Aside from not wanting to come off as a jerk, I always feel like I have a responsibility to encourage girls into IT."

"Really?" Angie's brows lifted. "Is it really that much a guy's world?"

Kerry removed her teal skirt from its hanger and stepped into it. "Well--" She tucked her shirt in and buttoned the skirt, then buckled the leather belt. "Yeah, it is," she admitted. "I think Dar is one of the few female CIO's, and our technical group is mostly guys, though we do try to recruit women."

"Try?"

Kerry went to her bag and removed her jewelry case. "Believe it or not, for some reason, women don't seem to gravitate to infrastructure." She took out a pair of favorite earrings and started to put them on. "I've seen great women programmers, project managers, service delivery reps, you name it. But high tech plumbers? Not so common."

Angie got up and came over, peeking at the earrings. "Ker, those are gorgeous," she said. "Can I see the other one?"

Her sister handed it over. She then retrieved her necklace and ring from the dresser and slid them into place. She brushed her hair out, glancing briefly in the mirror as the already drying, shortened strands settled around her face. "Sure is nice not to have to blow dry this stuff all the time."

"You like it short?"

Kerry took back the proffered earring and inserted it. "Yeah." She studied her reflection, and smiled. "I think it looks more sophisticated. Dar likes it. I keep trying to get her to cut her hair short, but she thinks she'll look like a punk."

"Mm." Angie got up and stood next to her. "Her hair's wavy, though. Your hair is straight. It might look weird unless it was really short," she pointed out. "I'm sure she doesn't want to look like a guy."

Kerry's eyebrow arched. She turned and looked at Angie. "Shaved bald she wouldn't look like a guy," she said, bluntly.

Her sister gave her a wry look.

Kerry made a face. "Sorry," she apologized. "I think I'm getting sensitive in my old age." She brushed her hair out again, feeling a little embarrassed. "Smack me."

"No way," Angie said immediately. "Are you kidding? I'm not hitting She-Ra. Not in this lifetime." She bumped Kerry with her shoulder. "Mind if I come along to the dinner? I know I wasn't in that class, but I'd love to hear you speak."

"I don't mind at all." Kerry was relieved. "I'd love the company." She finished her mild primping and reached for the jacket to her suit. "Thanks."

Angie followed her as she pulled the jacket on and tugged the lapels straight with an automatic gesture, reaching back to clear the short hairs in the back of her neck from the collar. "Is Mike meeting us after for dinner?"

"Actually--"

Kerry sensed a plot at hand. "Let me guess. He wants to come too."

"Well--" Her sister lifted both hands, as she watched Kerry slip into her mid heel shoes. "Why not? We know we don't have much time with you, Ker. Besides, if they start giving you a hard time, we'll gang up on them."

Kerry entertained herself with a mental vision of her siblings batting her old classmates around. She grinned. "Yeah sure, why not?" she said. "Let's go and get this over with." She clipped her Palm in its case to her belt and picked up the keys to the pickup. "Wanna drive?"

Angie chuckled, and then cleared her throat as they headed for the stairs. "Maybe."

KERRY FOLDED HER hands over her stomach and watched as the once familiar landscape whipped by, only half listening to her brother's chatter from the jump seat behind her. In her mind, she ran over what she might say at the dinner, reviewing a few different approaches depending on the reception she was given.

It would be the easiest if everything was at face value. She could talk about what was needed to enter the business world, and ramble on about the state of the technical industry for any length of time without any danger of either scandalizing anyone or being completely understood.

She scratched her nose, wrinkling the bridge of it a little as she acknowledged how stuffy and jaded that sounded even in the privacy of her own mind. It was true, though, that the world she worked in was full of over arching concepts and buzzwords that tried to describe in layman's terms what its functions were. Most of the time it ended up sounding like dystopian poetry.

"So Ker." Mike got her attention back. "You think this is a publicity stunt or something?"

On the other hand, Kerry smiled grimly, her brother had probably spoken aloud what her own primary suspicion was, that her school, always in search of funding, had used the opportunity of its class reunion to gain some press in an otherwise slow year.

What was that about any publicity being good publicity?

"Maybe," Kerry said. "I don't see what it really gets them though, except mention in the paper when the paper covers me." She glanced at her sister. "Did you say the paper was going to be there?"

"Of course," Angie said. She slowed, and then turned onto a busier road. "I'm surprised they didn't call the house looking for you, "she added. "A half dozen other people did."

Kerry blinked. "Huh? They did? Who?"

"Guys wanting dates. We told them off," Mike answered for her, reaching across the back of the seat and flicking Kerry on the back of her neck. "Then Oprah Winfrey called and we told her you were booked for the next two years already."

"Oh damn." Kerry had to laugh. "And herereally wanted to be on Oprah." She twiddled her thumbs a little. "Did I ever tell you guys that I got a call from Face the Nation after the hearing, wanting me to appear?"

"Oh my god you're kidding," Angie gasped. "They would have had a fit!"

"Face the Nation? They're used to weird political scandals." Kerry chuckled.

"Our parents," her sister clarified. "He hated that show."

"They roasted him the last time he was on it," Mike snorted. "Don't you remember that time, Kerry? I thought I sent you an email that he was going to be on. They nailed him on the offshore drilling crap he was supporting."

Kerry's brow creased a bit. "I must have been swamped with something," she admitted. "I don't remember seeing it. That's not something Dar and I usually watch." She spotted the beginning of the brick wall topped by wrought iron gating that marked her alma mater, and almost wished they would keep driving past now that it was here.

"Looks like it's busy." Angie eased the truck into the turn lane, reviewing the line of cars ahead of her. The truck was positively out of place, and she could see the people in the car ahead of her staring at it in their rearview mirror. "Can this go over the top of those little suckers?"

"Bet it can." Mike instigated immediately. "Creep up on that guy's bumper. Let's see if we can freak him out."

Kerry eyed her suddenly radical siblings. "What the heck's gotten into you two?"

"You're a bad influence," her brother informed her. "Everyone always said you would be." He reached over again and tugged Kerry's ear. "C'mon, you only live once. Let's get into trouble."

"Ah. Ah. ha!" Kerry grabbed his hand and held it. "It's not you two who'll get in trouble if we crash this thing. It's in my name," she pointed out. "Let's get inside. Then you can go around giving my old anything but pals wedgies if you want."

Angie chuckled. She eased the truck forward as the line moved, holding down the brake, and then giving the engine just enough gas to startle the car in front of her. "Vroom."

Kerry covered her eyes as she heard the crunch of the tires. She started thinking of what possible story she could come up with to explain why she'd totaled a rental car. At least Dar would probably find it funny. After no further sounds, she peeked out from between her fingers to see the car ahead of them pulling out of line, and heading off down the street. "What the heck?"

"We scared them," Mike said contentedly. "Weenie!"

Angie pulled the truck up to the next car in line. "Want to see if I can do that again?" she asked. "Get us through this queue in no time."

"Holy crap," Kerry sighed. "No, just chill, okay? Remember, you do live here. I get to go home in a day or so and I don't have to hear all the gossip."

"Screw that," Mike said. "If they want something to talk about, let's give them something. Otherwise they'll make stuff up about you and you know it. I'd rather have them saying we shoved some Lexus into the wall."

The line started moving again, much to Kerry's relief, and she rested her elbow on the doorframe as they made the turn into the entrance of the school and through the tall arched gates.

Mixed memories. She studied the name in the scrollwork as they went under it. She hadn't really disliked school, and she'd been more or less successful at navigating its social labyrinths since she'd been old enough to know better when she'd started attending.

Being Roger Stuart's oldest had brought both positive and negative attention, and now when she looked back on all the little things, the parties and invites, the snubs and the suck ups, she was content to acknowledge that, all in all, it could have been worse.

"Did Dar go to any type of--ah..."Angie paused. "No, probably not, huh?"

Kerry smiled. "Just regular school," she said. "But it wouldn't have mattered, I don't think. She's brilliant. They could never keep up with her down there, and I doubt they could have here either." She paused as Angie pulled up to the attendant, who peered inside with a doubtful expression. "Hi there. Is this Dominos Pizza?"

Mike fell back in the jump seat, chortling.

"Can I get a pepperoni and extra cheese?" Kerry continued pleasantly as the man frowned. "With a two liter of coke?"

"Ma'am, I don't think--" He hesitated, thrown off by the sport truck filled with unexpectedly well dressed people. "Ah--"

Angie removed the invitation from the sunshield and handed it to him. "Maybe this helps," she said. "Before my sister tells you we're hauling fertilizer for the dance hall."

The man looked at the invitation, then looked back at them. "Ah," he said. "No problem." He pointed to the left. "Valet parking's over there, ladies."

"Hey!" Mike popped his head up again. "Watch who you call lady, bub!"

"Thanks." Angie closed the window and got the truck moving before they could cause more chaos. "And you say we're causing trouble? Ker, you're the one who was going to show up in a tank top and jeans."

"Shoulda." Kerry chuckled, as they swung around the big, paved circle to the portal cachet, where valets were milling around, taking care of the well kept, expensive cars being dropped off. She had a moment to look at the crowd before it was their turn, her eyes spotting one or two people she was pretty sure she knew already.

Heads turned as the pickup pulled into the valet stand, and she was out of time to think about it. Kerry waited for the valet to hesitantly approach, then she opened the door from the inside and gathered herself to get out. "Okay, kids. Let's go."

As the door opened, the buzz of the crowd got louder, and she got that feeling she often did when she was about to enter a company they were acquiring and face the person she'd been once for the first time. She gave the valet a brief smile and turned to flip the seat forward so Mike could get out. "Evening."

"Ma'am." The valet reacted to her appearance and adjusted his attitude from seeing the truck. "Welcome to the homecoming."

Kerry saw heads turning nearby, and her peripheral view caught the flash of a camera. "Thanks," she said, as Angie came around to join them, and they walked as a group toward the steps. "Ready or not, here we come."

"Can I tell everyone I'm an alumnus too?" Mike asked.

"It's an all girl's school." Angie poked him. "What are you going to tell them, you had a sex change?"

Mike grinned evilly.

"Had to suggest that, didn't you?" Kerry said under her breath, as she saw a group of older women start in their direction. She recognized several as once upon a time teachers, and the lady in front, incredibly still there, as the headmistress in charge.

"Ms. Hauderthorn's coming right at you," Angie whispered. "What a witch! She hated me!"

Kerry plastered a determined grin on her face. "Remind me to tell you later why." She gave herself a little shake, and squared her shoulders. "But not until we've both had a beer."