Tropical Convergence

Chapter Four

DAR DIDN'T EVEN bother with the front door this time. She pulled the Lexus around to the back and parked in the loading dock, hopping out and slamming the door as Kerry did the same. They strolled over to the entrance in companionable silence and ducked inside.

It was much less chaotic and much more organized, Dar noticed at once. She paced slowly down the aisles of now completed booths, giving the odd security guards now on duty an amiable look as she passed them.

The ILS booth was in the center of the room, and she circled it entirely once before she entered the neatly made up space. "Nice," she commented to Kerry, who was checking out the locked case full of routers and switches. "Everything look good?"

Kerry walked to one of the sets and brought it up, coding in her password and running a few quick commands. "Looks very good," she said. "Decent throughput."

Dar leaned against the center column with her hands in her shorts pockets, admiring the contrast of Kerry's sun-gilded skin against the white cotton of her shirt. The sleeves were rolled up, and the shirt was tucked into her worn denim shorts and Dar found the whole picture quite appealing. "Know what?" she drawled.

"What?" Kerry looked up inquisitively.

"You're gorgeous."

Kerry's sunburn deepened several shades, and she glanced around the room before she produced a grin. "Um...thanks," she murmured. "What brought that on?"

Dar shrugged. "Merely an observation. Are we getting a two meg download?"

Kerry blinked. "What?" Her brows creased for a long moment before she realized what Dar was talking about. "Oh...um." She looked back at the screen in confusion, and then punched a few more keys. "One point eight."

"Good enough," her partner decided. "We're streaming locally anyway. At least I hope we are. Check to see if the marketing nitwits downloaded the mpegs." She wandered over to the far side of the booth, examining the colorful brochures curiously as Kerry bent over the console again.

A door slammed. Dar lifted her head at the sound, turning and peering across the center toward the front of the room. She spotted the two figures and barely stifled the impulse to grab Kerry and disappear, reasoning that they'd have to face off against their two adversaries sooner or later.

But there was no point in rushing the confrontation, so she merely went back to examining the marketing literature.

"Dar?" Kerry's low voice reached her.

"I know," Dar answered calmly. "Just do your thing."

Kerry sat down in the nearest seat and continued her parsing, examining the file structures of the presentations they'd sent out from the office earlier that day. Her ears were perked, though, as she listened to the footsteps wandering through the hall, which would, she knew, eventually end up right where they were.

She grinned a little, and cracked her knuckles.

MICHELLE STOPPED AS she reached the edge of the booth and waited for the two women inside it to look up.

When they didn't, she cleared her throat. "Well, well."

Kerry glanced up from her screen. "Oh, hi." She greeted their guest cordially. "C'mon in."

Michelle availed herself of the invitation and stepped inside the booth, circling the desk Kerry was at and taking a seat on the edge of the console. "Hello, Dar." She peered at the booth's second occupant and paused.

"Hi." Dar rested her chin on her fist and looked up briefly, then went back to studying the settings she had been investigating. "How's it going?"

Somehow, it wasn't the reception Michelle seemed to have been expecting. "Damned good, actually. Bet you're surprised to see me here."

"Not really." Kerry finished checking her screen, and moved to another one. "You guys get everything taken care of? We heard there were some problems last night. I thought your booth looked pretty well together."

"Our booth?"

"Mmhm..." Kerry indicated the Telegenics display a few rows down. "I like the LCD scrolling--it's nice." She tapped a few keys, and clicked twice with her mouse, reviewing the results. "There, that's better. Did you adjust that, Dar?"

"Uh huh," Dar responded. "Put prioritization in and filtered out some of Mark's crap."

"So you liked our stuff, huh?" Michelle decided to go with the flow of the conversation. "Glad to hear that. We worked hard on it, just like we've been working hard on getting new accounts around here. You must have noticed that too."

Kerry sat back and gazed thoughtfully at Michelle, then she turned her eyes to Dar, who had looked up and was now twiddling her thumbs at her workstation. Dar shrugged. "Are you? Well, congrats, then," she replied.

"So, you didn't notice we took eight of your accounts from here?" Shari stepped around the pylon and confronted them, leaning on the counter right above where Dar was sitting. "Hello, Dar."

"Hi," Dar responded, without budging an inch. "Business is business, I figure. You win some, you lose some." She tipped her head back, meeting Shari's eyes evenly, feeling her guts clench.

After a long moment, Shari looked away first, ostensibly turning her attention to Kerry. "That the way you see it too, Ms. Stuart?"

"Is there any other way?" Kerry queried. "We've got lots of competitors."

Michelle and Shari exchanged quick glances. "Well, that's great," Michelle said. "Frankly, we were hoping you'd feel that way. I mean, yes, we're competitors, but we've all got a lot in common, don't we? It'd be nice to do some friendly networking for a change." She smiled at them. "Matter of fact, we were hoping you both would be here today. We checked in a few times, but didn't see you around."

"Nah." Dar leaned back and extended her long legs, crossing them casually at the ankles. "We came in and did our part last night. We've been relaxing all day."

"At the parks?" Michelle smiled again.

"Like you were, huh?" Kerry indicated the Goofy shirts they were wearing. "It was a beautiful day, wasn't it?"

Shari glanced down at herself, and her face twisted into a half grimace. "Yeah, well, we love shopping," she muttered. "Never can have too many of these."

Dar slid her hand up, covering the grin that threatened to appear on her face.

"Listen." Michelle wrested control of the conversation back. "We really dropped by to make sure things were ready before we headed back to our hotel. You two free for breakfast tomorrow? Maybe we can chat then."

I'd rather eat Donald Duck jello eggs on toast with a pack of mimes. Kerry hesitated, trying to recall what their schedule was for the following day. The convention started at ten, so... She looked at Dar, reading the resigned set of her eyebrows and the faint twitch on either side of her mouth.

Kerry wrinkled her nose slightly, and saw the wry twinkle appear in Dar's eyes. "I think we're free for breakfast, aren't we? Unless you promised Marketing we'd meet with them." She gracefully gave Dar an out anyway, and waited for her decision.

"I can't take Eleanor before coffee," Dar replied. "Yeah, we're free." She glanced up at Shari. "Where are you staying?"

"The Sheraton across from here," Shari answered warily. "But their restaurant is pitiful."

"Ours isn't," Kerry said. "Why don't you meet us there? It's the Grand Floridian." She flipped off the monitor she'd been working at and stood up. "They've got great banana stuffed French toast." She let her hands come to rest on her hips and cocked her head at them. "Eight all right? We get up early."

Dar folded her arms over her chest, content to let Kerry hack and slash her way through with her charmingly piratical good manners. "Yeah, that's early enough to miss the characters. I don't want to scare Pluto again," she remarked with an easy grin.

Michelle appeared as though she'd sucked on a sour orange. "Sure," she finally agreed. "We'll meet you there." She got up and stepped out of the booth, giving Shari a backhanded slap on the arm. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

Kerry perched next to Dar's seat and watched them leave, casually leaning her wrist on her partner's shoulder. "I think we scored," she remarked as they walked through the entrance and out of sight. "You were right, Dar. That was exactly how to handle them. Good call."

"Oh yeah." Dar closed down her connection and stood, stretching her body out. "Round one to Roberts and Stuart, Ding ding," she added. "But now we've got round two at eight a.m. tomorrow."

"Yeah." Kerry sighed. "What a way to ruin perfectly good French toast." She slipped her arm around Dar's waist as they walked together toward the rear door. "You know, Dar, I really don't like Shari."

"Oh, really?" Dar opened the back door and held it as they exited.

"Really." Kerry took a breath of the warm, humid night air. "In fact, I'd like to take a set of cat five crimpers and clamp the end of her nose with them."

Dar looked at her. One eyebrow lifted. "What would that do?"

"Make her scream like a cat in a blender," Kerry replied, with a firm nod. "Start my day off just right."

Dar's nostrils flared. "Remind me not to piss you off, okay?" She draped an arm over Kerry's shoulders.

Kerry chuckled and shook her head.

"THANKS." KERRY SCRIBBLED her name on the room service check and handed it back to the waiter, then closed the door after him as he slipped out into the hallway. On the table near the window he'd left a tray, which had a large white china pot, two cups, and a plate full of chocolate dipped strawberries.

Kerry inspected the tray, lifting the lid on the pot and sniffing appreciatively. "Mm." She put the lid back down and dusted her hands off, turning her back on it and heading for the bathroom.

Dar was inside, applying aloe to her shoulders which were a deep, burnished color half tan and half sunburn. Kerry took the bottle from her and smeared the stuff across her back, rubbing it gently on the patches between the straps of her swimsuit. "You got toasted, honey."

"I feel it." Dar seemed embarrassed. "Next time remind me to put my damn sunscreen on after I get out of the water, willya?"

"Sorry. Thought you had." Kerry winced at the red marks. "My fault. I should have checked when I had you put some on me."

"Your fault?" Dar chuckled softly. "I could have remembered when I was putting some on you." She flexed her arms and turned, taking the bottle and putting a little on her fingers. Then she carefully painted Kerry's face with it, tracing the pink skin over her rounded cheekbones. "You got a little toasted too."

"I sure did." Kerry let her hands rest on Dar's hips. "But you know what? I had a great day. The dive was stupendous, and scaring the poo out of those two was so choice."

Dar grinned. "Yeah, it was," she admitted. "A little juvenile, though."

"So was their trying to make trouble last night," Kerry stated. "And so was their showing up tonight and trying to bait us. So there."

"So there." Dar leaned over and kissed her, tasting a hint of lip balm as she explored Kerry's mouth. "I am starting to wonder now what they're up to, though." She added, "The bitchiness I understand. Them being nice is scary."

Kerry took her hand and tugged. "Well, let's give 'em the benefit of the doubt, Dar. You never know--maybe they decided to grow up too."

"Mm." Dar followed her willingly. "Like us, you mean?"

"Exactly." Kerry paused and indicated the tray. "So, grownup. Wanna share some hot chocolate and berries with me?"

They walked to the table hand in hand. Dar gazed down at the treats with a smile, picking up a piece of apple garnish and taking a bite of it. "What more could any woman ask for?" she inquired around her mouthful of apple.

"Share." Kerry stood on her tiptoes and closed her teeth around the apple slice, and they both nibbled toward the center, giggling as their noses bumped and they fought over the last scrap of it.

"Whoops." Dar rolled her tongue around a small, hard point. "Seed."

"Where?" Kerry caught the pink appendage in her teeth, surprising Dar into releasing the seed into her mouth. "Ah! Got it!" She pulled back and swallowed the seed sticking her tongue out a few times like a lizard. "Mm."

Dar laughed. "Did just swallow that?"

"Yup." Kerry picked up a strawberry chaser and bit into its chocolate shell ruthlessly. "I heard a story once that if you swallow an apple seed it makes the tree of knowledge grow inside you."

"Um."

"Here. Don't think about it. Just eat." Kerry offered her half a strawberry. "It was a goofy story, but it's better than the other one I heard."

Dar chewed her berry contentedly. "That it makes you healthy, wealthy and wise?" She hazarded a guess.

"That it makes you pregnant."

Dar spit a bit of berry halfway across the table and nearly inhaled the rest of it. She covered her mouth as a laugh erupted from her.

Kerry patted her back solicitously. "Told you it was goofy. You'd be surprised at what you end up being taught in Sunday school that far north, honey."

"Jesus...remind me to throw some of our education outreach budget up there, will you?" Dar buried her face into Kerry's shoulder. "Before they start teaching Cabbage Patch creationist theory."

Kerry gave her a kiss on the head and exhaled happily, patting Dar's cheek when she lifted her head up. "Will do." She brushed Dar's cheek with her lips. "But they threw the book away when they came up with you."

Dar poured out two cups of hot chocolate, lifted hers, and clinked its edge against Kerry's when she picked her own up. "Here's to us." She looked into Kerry's eyes. "To hell with everyone else."

Kerry took a sip, and gave a kiss. "I'll drink to that anytime."

DAR SETTLED HER balance, gripping the bar on the weights with both hands at shoulder width and pressing her back against the weight bench. Slowly, she lifted the barbell clear, and lowered it, pushing it away from her with the same deliberation until her arms were straight.

It was very quiet in the hotel's gym, not surprising since it was before dawn. Dar lowered the bar and pressed it up again, keeping an even rhythm until she'd done it ten times. Then she set the weight back on the bar and let her arms drop.

"Ouch." She flexed her shoulder carefully, reaching over to probe the tightness she could feel still in the joint. It had mostly healed after her injury, but getting a full range of motion back and evening out the strength between her two arms was proving a long and, to her, tedious process.

But a process it was, and she slid down, fitting her legs under the leg press and flexing her thigh muscles to steadily lift up the weights she'd set on it. Aside from their new kickboxing classes, she'd felt the need lately to reaffirm the power she'd taken years to build into her body and she'd started doing a little more weightlifting than she had been for a while.

There wasn't any real reason for it. Dar folded her hands across her stomach and counted silently. Just a phase she was going through, apparently, figuring maybe her running and other efforts were getting her bored at the moment.

Breakfast was also on her mind. As she exercised, Dar went over the possible tacks she could take in their next fencing match with Shari and Michelle. Should she give them the benefit of the doubt and assume maybe they did want to bury the hatchet? Maybe Kerry was right.

Dar slid up on the bench and switched back to the chest presses. Maybe she was letting the personal side of the issue get in the way a little too much. After all, Shari wasn't anything she needed to worry about now. She'd passed her years back in the business strategy arena. She was a successful corporate executive, and she had the stable loving relationship Shari had been so sure she hadn't been capable of.

So it was her game, match, and set, and she had nothing to fear from either her ex-lover, her ex-lover's company, or the breakfast they were going to have in just a few hours.

Right. Dar let the bar drop again, and braced her legs, beginning a set of sit-ups, contracting her torso muscles in a more rapid rhythm. So why did she have knots in her guts?

For a few long moments she turned the thoughts off, concentrating on the exercise instead. Then her eyes lifted and met her reflection's gaze from the mirrors on the wall and she saw the wry lift of her own lips. "I think that whole 'grown up' crap wasn't a hundred percent now, was it, Paladar?" She addressed herself in a mocking tone. "Still smarting from that first blow off, huh?"

Just the articulation seemed to help. The knotted feeling inside her stomach eased, and she felt her body relax in response to it. "Redneck squirt fraud." She stuck her tongue out and slowed her motion, turning the last crunch into a rise to her feet as she ambled over to the leg press with a sigh. "Turn off the hormones, turn on the synapses. Think about what you've got right now."

She loaded an extra plate onto the bar and got under it, lifting it up onto her shoulders carefully and pausing to set her feet. With a deep breath, she went down with the weight, then straightened her legs and eased back up.

She did it again, reveling in the reassuring sense of control as her body responded smoothly. You are the energy in this, Dar. She reminded herself silently. They want something from you. That means you have to drive the situation to your advantage.

I can do that. Her inner voice responded. We can do that.

Dar studied the far wall of the gym. I hope.

THE NEXT MORNING started off charmingly enough, Kerry reasoned, as she surveyed the chocolate kiss resting squarely on her navel. Dar was nowhere to be seen, but she concluded the kiss could not have come from a Disney waiter, so she unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth as she slid from under the covers and got out of bed.

A rumble of thunder caught her attention, and she glanced outside the window, where a gray, drizzly day met her eyes. "Hm." She lifted her T-shirt from the back of the chair and slipped into it, turning to check the clock by the bed. "Six thirty."

She poked her head into the bathroom, and deduced by the one neatly hung, but still damp towel over the shower bar and the distinct, lingering scent of their body wash that Dar had taken her morning scrub and gone out to do...

To do what? Kerry scrubbed her teeth and ruminated on that for a while. Dar hadn't mentioned going out before meeting their unwelcome breakfast guests, so what was her partner up to?

The answer came quite unexpectedly when the door to the room opened. Kerry stuck her head out and spotted Dar entering, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a cutoff cotton shirt. "Hmph."

"Morning." Dar greeted her with a cheerful grin. "Ready for breakfast?"

"Nph," Kerry pointed her toothbrush at Dar. "Wherf yof gop?"

"Gym," Dar replied. "I woke up at five, and couldn't go back to sleep."

"Hmph." Kerry disappeared, going to the sink and rinsing the toothpaste out of her mouth. "You could have woken me up. I'd have gone with you." She wiped her lips and returned to the doorway.

Dar stripped out of her sweatpants and slipped past her, giving her a kiss on the back of the neck. "I know. But I was doing heavy presses, and I know you hate those."

"Mm." Kerry wrapped her fingers in the fabric of Dar's half shirt and followed her like a puppy toward the shower. "That's true, but I didn't have to do them and I do like watching you when you do."

"You looked too cute to wake up." Dar removed her shirt and sports bra, then tugged on Kerry's T-shirt. "Share a shower with me?"

Mollified, Kerry removed her shirt and stepped into the shower as Dar adjusted the spray. "Thanks for the kiss, by the way." She picked up the scrubber, still damp from its earlier use, and squeezed some gel onto it.

Dar joined her. "No problem." She stretched both arms out and flexed her hands. "I thought you'd want to get as much sleep as you could, since we're starting early, and it's gonna be a long day."

Kerry stifled a yawn and managed to not quite suppress a rueful grin. "Yeah," she admitted. "Now I wish I hadn't been such a smart mouth and suggested breakfast at the crack of dawn." She scrubbed Dar's chest industriously. "Though, it was worth it to see their sour pusses."

Dar slid her arms around Kerry and held her for a brief moment, giving her a hug before she released her again. "You know what?"

Cautiously, green eyes peered up from between a few wet strands of pale hair. " Are you going to make me blush again?" Kerry asked.

"Not that I minded the compliment," she added.

"It was true." Dar exhaled contentedly. "But what I was going to say was that I'm sort of looking forward to this damn breakfast."

Kerry gave her a light scrub around the belly button. "Why?"

"I just am," Dar replied, stroking Kerry's cheek with the backs of her knuckles. "We may even have fun at it."

We just may. Kerry chuckled silently to herself. She had always fiercely defended Dar, even from the first. Now, faced with someone who had quite deliberately hurt her beloved friend and lover, Kerry found a very unexpectedly fierce protective instinct rearing its head inside her.

Kerry finished her washing, and they stepped out to dry each other off. She wanted to kick Shari's ass and the violence of the thought almost surprised her.

Almost.

DAR RELAXED ON the bench in the lobby, stretching her legs out and leaning back as she watched Kerry circle the pretty atrium examining the birds. Arriving a little early, they settled in to wait for their guests, as the rain continued to drum on the plate glass windows.

She hitched one denim covered knee up and rested her ankle on its mate, examining the little blue and white cross stitches on one side of her sneaker. It was cool in the lobby, and she briefly wished she'd put on a long sleeve T-shirt instead of a short sleeved one, but considered that the writing on the front of it was probably worth a little chill.

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

"Mm," Dar agreed, with a nod.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dar chuckled.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah. Love 'em."

"THAT WASN'T VERY successful."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kerry leaned into her touch. "I know she hurt you."

Dar blinked a few times. "She almost made me miss out on meeting you," she replied quietly. "Kerry, I hate her. I can't pretend I don't." She exhaled, feeling a sense of almost absurd relief from saying the words, and even more so when she saw the understanding in Kerry's eyes. "I know this is business, but I can't do it."

The cell phone still clipped to Dar's discarded jeans buzzed, but Kerry took both of Dar's hands in hers and ignored it, looking her partner squarely in the eye.

Her breath almost stopped in her chest, seeing an expression on that face she'd never seen before. Then Dar blinked, and it was gone, but Kerry knew she'd gotten a glimpse of the confused young woman who had gotten kicked in the head by love all those years ago.

It stirred a feeling inside her, deep and powerful, and she pressed her body against Dar's, slipping her arms around her partner's sturdy form and pulling Dar close. "I understand." She tilted her head to look up. "We'll deal with it. You be as nasty as you want to be. I'm right there with you." Her arms tightened. "I'm right here for you."

Dar sighed. "Boy I must sound like a nitwit," she murmured softly.

"Never," Kerry replied.

"Yeah, I do." Dar rested her cheek against Kerry's head. "But what the hell. They expect me to be an asshole. I'll live up to their expectations." She half chuckled, a tiny, wry sound. "But no more breakfasts. I'm not wasting one more cent of my expense account getting indigestion."

Kerry dropped her hand down and gave Dar's belly a rub. "Did you really?"

A sigh. "Yeah," Dar admitted.

"Okay." Kerry took a deep breath. "Here's what I'd like you to do. Will you think about it at least before you start making those grunting noises?"

Caught in the actual act of preparing to do just that, Dar cleared her throat instead. "Um. Sure."

"I'd like you to crash here for a bit, and let me show my title off at the show for a while." Kerry said. "Would you do that for me?"

"I don't need you to do that."

"No," Kerry agreed. "But I'd like to anyway. Please?"

Dar considered the request seriously. Her first instinct was to refuse, and she mulled that over as her fingers sorted through Kerry's hair, watching the gray illumination outside catch light and dark shadows in the soft locks. The pros and cons sorted themselves out as easily, and after a brief pause, she nodded "All right."

Kerry smiled at her.

"On one condition."

The green eyes rolled. "Always a condition."

"If anyone asks you where I am..." Dar clasped her hands and put them behind Kerry's neck.

"Mm?"

"You tell them you wore me out last night and I had to take a nap."

Kerry produced a noise somewhere between a sneeze and a cough, both of her eyebrows hiking up. "Dar!"

At last, her partner laughed softly. "Just kidding," she relented. "Actually, I'm going to boot up and start some deep research on Telegenics." Her brows contracted. "If we missed who was behind them, we might have missed a lot more. You know how much I hate surprises."

"Sounds like a plan." Kerry plucked at the waistband of Dar's briefs, a spiffy blue pair covered in grinning goldfish. "You could lay out on the balcony in these. Everyone would think it was a swimsuit. No one would know."

"I would know," Dar objected. "My daddy didn't raise me to show my drawers in public, you pithy little Yankee." She nudged Kerry a little. "G'wan. Eleanor is probably getting so nervous her eyelashes are touching her navel."

Reassured by her partner's tone, Kerry moved to the closet to get her suit out. When she turned, Dar had tugged a pair of shorts on and was sprawling onto the bed, already pulling her laptop over to her.

Satisfied with her plan, Kerry grabbed the hanger with her suit, a new silver blue one with a deep aqua silk blouse that she'd picked up not long before. She spent a moment attaching her favorite pin to the lapel, and then studied the results.

It would do. She glanced over her shoulder at Dar, whose half bare body was vividly outlined against the white sheets and spared herself a moment of envy, and then she started dressing for the show.

"Hey, Ker?" Dar interrupted her. "You should keep that T-shirt on."

Kerry paused and glanced at the garment. "Oh, that'd make a great impression, Dar." She laughed, a touch embarrassed. "Were you thinking I could open my jacket and flash anyone who pissed me off?"

Dar rolled onto her side and crossed her ankles. "Hm."

"I was joking." Kerry tossed the shirt at her, landing it on her head and watching in amusement as it draped half over her face and obscured one pale eye. "I'm not wearing a shirt that says RTFM to a trade show."

Her partner wiggled a sock covered toe at her. "Yeah," she agreed. "You'd spend your whole damn time explaining what it meant."

Kerry chuckled, removing her jeans and reluctantly replacing them with the austere, straight-line skirt that came to a respectable knee level and the light, silk shirt that was thankfully sleeveless. She tucked the blouse into the skirt's waistband and buckled the integrated belt, picking up her shoes and taking them to the bed with her as she sat down to put them on. "I think I like the one you have better," she said. "The programming one?"

Dar chuckled. "I like the 'no, I won't fix your damn computer' one myself." She rested her head on her fist and ignored her laptop screen. "Hey, Ker?"

Kerry fastened her watch around her wrist and stood, turning to face the bed. "Hm?"

"Thanks."

"For?"

The visible blue eye twinkled. "Being my best friend."

Kerry picked up her jacket and walked over to the side of the bed, leaning over to kiss Dar on the lips. "And what a pleasure it is to be that," she whispered, nudging aside the still draped shirt so she could look into both eyes. "I'll give you a call when it's time for you to make your grand, triumphant entrance, okay?"

"Okay," Dar agreed. "Have fun."

Kerry shrugged into her jacket, twitching the light linen fabric straight and fastening the single button. It was cut somewhat low, accentuating her tapered physique, and she gave Dar a wink as she accepted the frankly admiring gaze turned on her. "Look okay?"

"You look better out of it," Dar replied. "But it'll do for now." She watched Kerry check her image in the mirror, then pause to clip the cell phone to her belt. "Give them heck."

"Do my best." Kerry went to the door, looking back as she opened it and leaned against the jamb. "Will you..."

"Keep my eye on the pipes?" Dar swiveled her laptop around, displaying a screen full of jumping gauges. "Nah."

Kerry grinned and ducked out the door, letting it slide shut behind her.

Dar let the echoes fade before she turned the laptop around and minimized the displays, bringing up another screen and keying in a terse request. "All right...let's see what the hell we've got here," she muttered to herself. "Before anyone other than me realizes how frigging embarrassing it is that I let these guys stomp all over us and didn't even pay attention to it."

She set the request to run and lay back against the pillows. After a few moments the silence of the room started bothering her and she reached for the television control, flipping on the room's set. After browsing her choices, she settled on ESPN and let it run in the background as she opened her mail program.

The inbox filled with black lines that she glanced over, dividing her attention between the headers and the women playing volleyball on the screen. After a few minutes, however, she abandoned the mail and watched the game, tucking Kerry's discarded T-shirt under her head as she put it down on the pillow. In her peripheral vision, a thin line of alert gauges winked reassuringly green.

IT WAS A short trip, but Kerry was glad it was over. Driving through a downpour heavy enough to drown lobsters with nervous tourists wasn't her idea of fun at any time. She was more than happy when she parked Dar's big Lexus near the front of the building and bolted for the door.

A small crowd was milling there, and as she ran her fingers through her hair to shed the rain from it, the guard spotted her company badge and politely cleared a path. Kerry gave him a gracious nod then realized belatedly it was the same guy as the night they'd arrived. Her face crinkled into a wry grin as he held the door for her. "Thanks," she addressed him pleasantly. "Sure beats coming in the construction entrance."

He froze, but she didn't give him a chance to answer as she strode inside and headed for the show hall. Now, the lights in the outer lobby were on, and a buzz of conversation filled the high ceiling'd space. Banners were strung across over the doorways and company representatives were everywhere, passing out marketing gimmicks and the occasional business card.

It was all too familiar to Kerry. She'd attended more than her share of trade shows on behalf of ILS, and as she made her way through the crowd and was recognized, she returned the greetings with pleasant good manners.

It was ironic in the extreme that her early training in her father's household now served her so well, making her responses gracious and automatic and completely forgettable. Kerry excused herself from between two of her major distributor's sales directors and escaped into their booth, giving the techs and the salespeople a brief wave. "Hi guys."

"Kerry!" Mark appeared from apparently nowhere, dressed in a crisp company shirt and black pleated slacks. "Glad you're here."

"Uh oh." Kerry brushed a last droplet off her sleeve. "What's broken?"

Her MIS manager put his hands on his hips. "Does it have to be a bad thing that you're here?" he asked plaintively.

"No," Kerry smiled at him. "True disasters wait for Dar." She glanced around at the crowd. "They about to open the doors? Lot of action going on around here."

"No shit," Mark agreed. "Hey, you know who's here?" His voice dropped, and he moved closer to Kerry.

Kerry gave him a wry look.

"Guess you do."

"We had breakfast with them." Kerry ran her eye over the interior of the booth, and gave the approaching Eleanor a quick smile. Everything looked ready, and she exhaled out that tiny bit of apprehension still tensing her guts from their abandonment of the prior day. "Morning, El."

"Good morning to you too, Kerry." Eleanor was in a good humor. "Fricking weather's going to knock us on the ass for a while, but that's a good thing. Start slow, less bull." She leaned against the counter next to Kerry. "Where's Rambo's worst nightmare?"

"Chilling." Kerry watched a group of salesmen from their biggest network equipment supplier break out of a huddle and make a beeline for her. "She'll be by later."

"Good." Eleanor spotted a slow, but steady flow of people into the room. "Let's keep them waiting... I know there's at least four big talkers around who were looking to meet her." Eleanor brushed her hands together. "All right folks--it's showtime. Let's go get 'em."

Mark eased back in next to her as the marketing people cleared out, starting to filter through the crowd with their bags full of ILS stress balls and the rather clever little beanbag monitor perchers that resembled a cartoon Rottweiler theoretically watching over you. "Man, there were people talking all over the place today," he told Kerry. "Those lowballers were telling everyone they're the new power players around here."

Kerry scratched her nose. "They do talk a lot," she agreed.

"They came over here talking shit, but I ran them off," Mark added. "Pain in the asses."

"Mm." Kerry folded her arms across her chest. "They tried to recruit us the other night."

Mark laughed. "Yeah, the boys told me," he agreed. "Bet he's going to crap when he finds out who he was talking to."

Kerry spied their little friend in question and chuckled under her breath. 'Yeah." She pushed off from the console and strolled off. "I bet he is."

THE SOFT CHIME of her laptop slowly penetrated Dar's idle, formless dreams and after a few moments of confusion, she opened her eyes, blinking them a few times to regain their focus. "Umph." She lifted a hand and scrubbed her face, putting her head down and almost letting the warm comfort of her pillow reclaim her.

One hand lifted and touched her track pad, and she studied the results of her query in silence. One eyebrow slowly lifted. She rose up on one elbow and typed another request in one handed, rolling the pointer over and clicking to submit it.

She'd slept for two hours, and she felt like she could sleep for a few more. Maybe it was the weather. Dar peered over her own shoulder at the window, which was still being lashed by rain. It was dark inside the room, and cool--perfect day for staying in bed.

Well. Dar shifted a little. That's exactly what she was doing, wasn't she? Lazily she rolled over and stretched her body out, peering up at the television. The volleyball game was over, replaced by a gymnastics competition. She watched the girls tumbling in their intricate routines, and idly imagined Kerry participating when she was younger.

One of the girls stood at the edge of the mat, her tongue sticking out a little as she concentrated and Dar found herself smiling, knowing Kerry would have likely been doing the same thing. She did, when she was focused on something, often without realizing it.

It was really cute. Dar put her hands behind her head and indulged in a little daydreaming. It was interrupted, however, by the room's phone ringing. Dar turned her head, frowning as she judged how long Kerry had been gone. She picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Yes?"

"Ms. Stuart?"

"You had a fifty-fifty chance and you blew it," Dar replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Roberts?"

"Yes?"

"I have a package here at the front desk for Ms. Stuart. Is it all right for me to send it up?"

Package? Dar was puzzled. "Sure," she answered, trying to recall what package Kerry might have been expecting. It didn't come to her, so she put the phone down and got up, walked to the bathroom and ran some water to wash her face.

She was patting her skin dry when the door knock came, so she tossed the towel down and went to the door, opening it to find a short, curly haired boy standing there with the promised package. "Hi."

The boy blinked and swallowed, then held out the package to her. Dar took it, watching bemusedly as he turned and sped away, disappearing around the corner of the hallway in mere seconds.

"Huh." Dar closed the door and glanced down at the box, only then realizing she was still in just her bra and jeans. An embarrassed chuckle forced its way out and she covered her face with one hand, wondering if she was due a smack to the head to get her brains working again.

She dismissed the bellboy and examined the package instead. It was relatively small, but heavier than she'd expected for its size. The label on it was addressed to Kerry, sure enough, at the hotel address, but the return address was...

"New Zealand?" Dar repeated. "Who in the hell do we know in New Zealand?" Several major accounts, of course, but she didn't think Kerry knew any of them personally, and besides, the box was from what appeared to be a business.

Dar walked over to the table and set the box down, then dropped into the chair next to it and folded her arms across her bare belly. She was curious. One hand lifted and she thunked the box with her finger, hearing a sturdy solidity inside.

Hm. Dar picked the box up and brought it close to her face, sniffing it. Cardboard. "Okay." She examined the wrapping, which was very thoroughly taped. After a moment, she put it back down and drummed her fingers on the table.

She could probably open it. Kerry probably would not mind, since the object had been sent to their hotel room and it would be logical to assume Dar would see it anyway.

"Okay, how would you feel if she opened it and it was yours?" Dar asked the empty room. "Would you care?"

Would she? Dar drew one knee up and circled it with both arms, taking a rare delve into her own psyche.

"No," she finally spoke frankly. "I wouldn't give a damn, which means Kerry probably would. So leave it alone," She got up and left the package where it was, returning to the bed and plopping back down beside her laptop.

But now that she was up, she felt restless again. So though she put her computer up onto her lap, she also dragged the phone over and picked it up.

"Room service," the tinny voice answered promptly.

"Hi." Dar tapped a command into her mail program. "Can you send me up a really big pot of coffee, a jug of milk, and a bowl of chocolate ice cream?"

Silence.

"Hello?" Dar frowned at the phone.

"Yes, ma'am--that'll be one pot of coffee for... how many people?"

"One person who really likes coffee," Dar replied. "Whatever your biggest one is."

The sound of writing. "Okay, and a jug... is that like a glass?"

"No." Dar glanced at the first mail in the box. "If I wanted a glass, I'd ask for a glass. Just bring me a half gallon, or whatever."

"Our biggest. Gotcha," the room service clerk replied. "And our biggest bowl of chocolate ice cream?"

"You're catching on," Dar said.

"That will be about fifteen minutes."

"Thanks." Dar hung up the phone and settled back, plumping the pillows up behind her and resolving to at least get some work done. After a few minutes though, she found her attention wandering from the mundane mail on her laptop and focusing on the television. An extremely cute blond girl was on the balance beam, and as Dar watched, the kid did a back flip and missed.

"Ouch." Dar winced, as the small body hit the bar, then the mat. She got up immediately, but she was obviously stunned, and wavered as she tried to get back on the bar. "Hey! Stop her, you creep!" she instructed the girl's coach, visible just on the side of the floor exhorting her.

The girl put her hands on the bar and boosted herself up, getting her feet under her and standing up. But as she started to walk, she lost her balance again and fell in a heap on the mat, this time staying there.

Dar was surprised at the outrage she felt as the coach yelled, faintly audible, for the girl to get up. "Stupid son of a..." she barked at the television. "Go help her!"

The coach did not. However, as though hearing Dar, one of the other competitors, a taller girl with dark hair did rush over and kneel next to the fallen gymnast even though her costume indicated she was on a different team.

The coach yelled again, but the dark haired girl looked up and yelled back angrily, and then people began rushing onto the floor and surrounding them both.

"Mm." Dar returned her attention to her mail. "That's better. You go, kid." She typed in silence for a moment, then the irony of the situation struck her. She looked back up at the screen in time to see the tall gymnast helping the shorter one off the mat, their arms wrapped around one other.

Dar chewed her inner lip and then she smiled, making a mental note to check the ESPN website later and find out who the kids were. There was, she suspected, a story in there somewhere. Her eyes shifted to the table, suspecting there was a story inside the box too.

With a sigh, she went back to her typing. As she finished one mail and found herself checking the television before going to the next, she recalled something Kerry had said. "Restless," Dar murmured under her breath. "Yeah. More like scatterbrained."

KERRY WALKED UP in back of Mr. Slimy, giving him a smile as he sensed her presence and turned to face her. "Hi."

"Oh! Hi...um..." The man's eyes dropped to her corporate badge. "Kerry wasn't it...ah."

'That's right," Kerry replied. "And you can do me a big favor by cutting the crap out and stop wasting my people's time."

He actually took a step back. "Hey, wait a minute..."

"No, you wait a minute." Kerry squared her shoulders and gave him a direct stare. "They're too smart to do anything but laugh at someone who would go behind their boss's back and approach them like that. If you'd do it to me, you'd do it to them. None of my people like stupid games."

The man blinked. "Look, it was nothing more than business as usual, Ms. Stuart. Don't tell me you don't do it."

"I don't do it," Kerry shot right back at him. "And if you do it again, you're going to have to explain to my boss why you're annoying my staff."

He held up both hands. "Okay, lady. Okay." He took a step backwards into Telegenic's booth. "No problem...I get the message."

Michelle Graver suddenly appeared around the other side of the booth. "What message?" She glanced at Kerry, one ginger eyebrow lifting at the blond woman's aggressive stance. "Problem, ah... Kerry?"

Of the two of them, Kerry found it much easier to tolerate Michelle, for some probably not too noble reasons. "You have slime bags working for you," she informed her. "I'm over it. He doesn't know how to take no for an answer."

Michelle gave her manager a look, and he ducked away, disappearing into the interior of the booth. Then she turned back to her visitor. "Ah. Tried a little poaching, huh?"

Kerry put one hand on her hip. "He tried to recruit me and Dar."

Both of Michelle's eyebrows hit her hairline with an almost audible crack. "Ambitious," she murmured under her breath.

"Not really. He had no idea who we were."

"Ah." Michelle cleared her throat. "Sorry." She grinned slightly. "We are pretty aggressive. I won't apologize for that." Her eyes drifted, then went back to Kerry. "Breakfast was fun."

For a moment Kerry didn't answer, as she wavered, deciding how to respond. Then she relaxed her stance a trifle. "What did you really expect?" she asked.

Graver exhaled, and half shrugged. "Damned if I know," she said, giving her head a slight toss to take the edge off the comment. "Let's see if I can start over. Buy you a cup of coffee?"

Good cop, bad cop. Kerry almost smiled. "Sure," she agreed,

Michelle turned and led the way toward the snack bar on one side of the convention hall. "Nice turnout. Didn't expect that with the rain."

"We did." Kerry let her arms drop to her sides and lengthened her steps, secretly enjoying the sensation of having someone shorter than she was have to keep up with her. Dar was such a beast that way--she didn't do it on purpose, but her legs were so much longer than Kerry's she always felt like she was having to take a little hop to keep up.

"Did you?"

"Orlando is full of distractions." Kerry arrived at the snack bar and pointed at the coffee, then held up two fingers. "However, most of them are outdoors. We're not." She leaned on the counter and faced Michelle. "I'm glad I got my fun in yesterday."

Michelle took one of the cups the server offered them and indicated a small table nearby. She led the way over and sat down, waiting for Kerry to take the seat opposite her before she spoke. "Listen." She leaned on one elbow. "This is a...touchy...kind of situation, I know that."

Kerry's eyebrows twitched.

"We really didn't want this to turn into a war."

"Sure you did." Kerry cut her off, but in a remarkably mild tone. "You came in here setting the stage for us to clash."

Michelle sighed.

"Well, you did. It's not my fault," Kerry said. "I wasn't the one who tried to pay off the convention staff not to help set the place up, and I wasn't the one who sent my lackeys around trying to steal other company's employees."

Michelle eyed her. "You're not as nice as you used to be," she remarked. "Dar must be rubbing off on you."

Far from taking offense, Kerry produced a sunny grin at that. "Thank you." She sat back and sipped at her coffee, waiting for Michelle's next salvo. In the mean time, she let her eyes scan the room casually, spotting ILS's marketing team doing their thing in the aisles. Eleanor had the vice president of technology of one of their biggest clients by the lapel, and she made a point of making eye contact with Kerry as she cruised along with him. "Ah. Sorry to cut this short, but my services are required."

Michelle was nothing if not tenacious. "Okay. Can we try all this again at dinner tonight? Call me a stinkweed, but I still want to try and make this work. We can all learn from each other."

Kerry crumpled her cup and tossed it into the nearby wastepaper basket. "Thanks." She stood up and braced her hands on the table, leaning on them a little. "But no thanks. We've got plans for tonight and I promised Dar she wouldn't have to deal with any more indigestion from you guys." She straightened and turned, walking away without a backward glance.

Michelle got up and dropped the half unfinished cup into the garbage can. "Well, I think I've wasted enough time for one day," she commented to the receptacle. "Don't you?" With a snort, she followed Kerry out onto the floor.

DAR HAD TRADED her unorthodox loungewear for a pair of cutoff overalls and a polo shirt, and left her laptop behind as she investigated the hotel. She'd answered all her mail that she felt needed answering, and ditched the rest of it, losing interest in the weightlifting that had been showing on ESPN as well.

So here she was, sauntering around the lobby in her bare feet, watching the tourists mill around giving the still stormy weather evil looks. The interior of the hotel was a pristine white, and the whole décor was one of lightness and elegance.

Dar found a comfortable and mostly empty corner and selected a seat in it, leaning back against the cool fabric as she watched the world go by for a few minutes. There were families here, but she saw a lot of couples, too, walking together or sitting and talking around her.

Her own visits here in her youth had been very different. Dar propped her leg up with one ankle on her knee and rubbed the prominent bone with her thumb. They hadn't been rich. Far from it, in fact. The best her father could manage was one of the ratty little motels on the strip in Kissimmee or, memorably, the camping ground inside the park itself.

Fort Wilderness. Dar smiled to herself. She'd loved that place. It had been full of pine scent and horses, and she had spent hours with her father swimming in the manufactured swimming hole on the side of the lake.

It had been one of the best vacations ever. Only four days, a long weekend leave before his next deployment. Yet it was one of the few times Dar could remember where they'd all been just...happy together.

They'd slept in the back of Dad's truck, under the nylon tent and sweated like pigs. It had made the lake that much sweeter.

"Excuse me."

Dar looked up to find a man standing next to her, peering down. "Yes?"

"Are you Dar Roberts?"

A prickle of surprise rippled up and down her spine. "Yes," Dar replied briefly. "Why?"

The man sat down and extended a hand, which Dar ignored until he awkwardly withdrew it. "My name is Peter Quest. You don't know me."

"You're right. I don't. What do you want?" Dar gave him a direct look.

"I'm looking to do a little business, Ms. Roberts. I was told you would be someone I could talk to," Quest replied. "I was at the trade show this morning looking for you, but they told me you weren't around."

"So you decided to walk around Disney hotels asking people at random if they were me?" Dar asked. "Nice."

The man shook his head and chuckled. "No, I had a picture of you," he admitted. "Hope you don't mind."

Dar set her feet on to the floor and leaned forward. "I do mind," she spoke softly. "So you better explain why you're stalking me before I kick your ass right out that door into the rain, buddy."

Quest eased back away from her. "I beg your pardon, Ms. Roberts. I'm making a big mess of this, and I'm sorry. I really meant no harm. I just wanted to talk to you." He licked his lips. "I've got a business proposal I think you might be interested in."

Dar was on the verge of booting him anyway, when Alastair's words echoed into her memory. New business. "Okay," she replied instead, relaxing again into her chair. "I'm listening." Her head cocked slightly, and she pinned the man with a sharp stare. "Start talking."

"Um..." Quest visibly gathered up his scattered wits, confused by her change of attitude.

'Well?" Dar inquired.

The man held up one hand, and then took a breath. "Okay," he said. "Tell me. How do you feel about cruise ships?"

Dar's eyebrows knit fiercely. "Cruise ships?"

"Yeah." The man went on more confidently, producing a big smile. "Cruise ships."

"Well." Dar paused to think. "I'm an IT professional. Why would I think anything about cruise ships? We don't have anything to do with them."

"Ah." Quest rested his elbows on his knees. "Well, that's where I think I can change your mind then. We want you to have a lot to do with them."

Dar studied him. "Okay. Go on," she said. "I'm listening."

KERRY COULD FEEL a headache building, and she subtly put her hand behind her neck and rubbed it as she listened to Eleanor's smooth pitch. Their booth was now crowded with interested onlookers, most peering at the network monitor screens prominently displayed at each corner. They were showing a real time display of their systems, mirrored from the big monitor Mark had in the operations center down in Miami.

Out of long habit, she found herself keeping an eye on them, also, because the colorful, bouncing screen represented things wholly her responsibility. At work, she had a twin of that screen mounted on a flat panel display in her office and she knew every graph like it was written across the back of her hand.

"Ms. Stuart?"

Kerry turned, vainly trying to keep her nostrils from flaring as she recognized Shari's voice. "Yes?"

The husky woman leaned on the edge of the booth. "I'll make this short and sweet." She kept her voice low. "Michelle's a decent sort, and she really has an idea that your company and ours can help each other."

Kerry simply waited in silence.

"Leave me out of it," Shari continued, after it was evident she wasn't going to get an answer. "I know Dar has a problem with me."

"You're wrong. She doesn't have a problem with you," Kerry interrupted.

Shari rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. She doesn't have a problem, but it's not really likely that we're going to start being pals any time soon, how's that?" She gave Kerry a sarcastic look. "She never did have a handle on dealing with people. It's nice to know nothing's changed."

The burn of anger didn't surprise Kerry this time. It almost felt good, in a way, because she knew the emotion was based squarely in the love she felt for Dar. "You know what?" Kerry finally spoke. "I guess you're still the same asshole you were back then too. She doesn't have a problem, but that doesn't really matter to me because I have a problem with you. So do me a favor and go find someone else to hover over. Okay?"

Shari fell silent and looked at her for a second before she straightened and took a step back. "O...kay." She lifted both hands and dropped them. "Nice to have the air cleared."

"It will be, as soon as you leave." Kerry felt slightly abashed at letting her temper get the better of her. "Excuse me." She moved over to where Eleanor was bidding her latest victim farewell. "El?"

"Hm?" Eleanor turned. "Oh, hey Kerry. You ready to go get some lunch? My snappy patter's wilted."

The thought of lunch made her slightly sick to her stomach. She was shaking inside that much. "Actually, I was going to tell you I'm heading back to the hotel to pick up Dar. I'll get something there." Kerry looked around. "We've got a nice crowd going. I figured it was time for the ubergeek to show up."

Eleanor smiled knowingly. "Go on." She nudged Kerry. "See you after lunch."

Kerry signaled to Mark that she was leaving, getting a thumbs up from him as he stood guard over the locked switch box. Feeling that everything was relatively well in hand, she turned and started to work her way out of the room.

Even the rain outside didn't deter her. She cleared the door and stepped out into it, almost welcoming the wash of warm water that plastered the hair on her head and quickly dampened her clothes. She reached the Lexus and triggered the door lock, opening the driver's side and sliding inside with a sense of relief.

It smelled like leather tinged with the faint hint of Dar's usual perfume, and Kerry sat there for a minute breathing it in.

She took a moment to remember the first time she'd ridden in this car, in a rain not unlike the one she'd just escaped from, but with little other similarity.

It had been one of the most miserable nights of her life, and one of the most wonderful. Kerry leaned back in the comfortable seat and ran her fingers through her wet hair, pushing it back off her forehead. "You know what?" she mused. "A navy sweatshirt sure would feel good right about now."

With a sigh, Kerry shook a few droplets of water off her hands and started the car up, shifting smoothly into reverse and backing out of the parking spot she'd chosen. If she couldn't have a navy sweatshirt, at least she knew where to find the next best thing.

"NO." DAR SLUNG her leg over one chair arm, leaning on the other. "I'm not interested."

Peter Quest looked puzzled. "You're not?" he asked. "I don't understand. You're a services company, we're looking for someone to come in and install, maintain, and run networks on all our ships. What's the problem?"

"I'm not in the business of being part of a circus," Dar replied. "Why don't you just throw open the business for bids? Plenty of companies around who'd be willing to tender. Why sneak around making secret deals to have people come in?"

Quest looked around carefully, and then lowered his voice. "It's really complicated." He said. "Listen, can we go somewhere more private...like the bar?"

Dar's eyebrow lifted. "No," she said. "My partner's going to come back through here looking for me and damned if she'd look there," she told Quest. "So talk, or take a hike."

The man exhaled. "You're a difficult person, Ms. Roberts."

Dar shrugged. "So I've been told. But then, you came looking for me, not the other way around."

"Okay, here's the deal," Quest went on. "My company, American Visions, intends on being the first American cruise line in decades," he said. "We've gotten hold of four ships, and we're having them rebuilt to US specifications in New Zealand."

New Zealand again? Dar almost let herself get sidetracked. "Yeah?"

"But it's all hush hush. If we can bring them into the States by January, we can grab a big segment of the homeland cruise market. If those four make it, we have eight more waiting overseas to join the fleet."

Dar looked at him. "Hush hush?" she repeated. "They're cruise ships. What do they weigh...seventy, eighty thousand tons? How the hell do you hide them?"

Quest looked around again. "We're not revealing who owns them," he said. "And they'll get their final paint in San Diego. Anyway, seventy percent of the refurb stuff needs to be US, and that includes the technical infrastructure."

"And?"

"And if we throw open bids, chances are people we don't want to find out about this are going to find out, because they'll send spies in to figure out what we're up to."

Dar braced her chin on her fist. "So what if I'm a spy?" she asked.

"Your company has no connection with the business," he answered readily. "Neither do the other three American companies we asked to compete for the contract...and I've got some friends in the government who tell me you can keep your mouth shut."

Dar shook her head. "Still not interested," she said. "I don't know that we want to get involved in this. It sounds irregular."

"Well..." Quest replied. "It really isn't, it's just business. I have to get some government paperwork straightened out and that's why it has to be kept quiet. You understand? It's political."

Dar frowned. "We have a lot of government contracts," she said. "I don't think we want to be a part of it." She paused. "Who else are you asking? Maybe I can give you some names to talk to."

Quest gazed at her, biting the inside of his lip. Finally he leaned forward a little. "Advanced Tech, KDC, and Telegenics."

"Ah." Dar's expression didn't change, but a dark sparkle lit in her eyes. "Interesting choices."

"Telegenics talks a good game. They've been wooing my director over another contract, so..." Quest shrugged. "Anyway, since you're not interested, let me stop wasting your time." He straightened up in his seat, and half turned, pausing as one of the figures walking across the lobby caught his eye. "Sure must be raining outside."

Dar watched the object of his attention, an unconscious smile appearing on her face. Even drenched, Kerry had her head held high, and despite the rain dampened clothes she had an innate grace as she approached that attracted more eyes than Quest's. "Mm."

Quest started to stand as Kerry closed in on them, but she gave him a polite smile as she dropped into the chair next to Dar's and leaned on its arm. "Hi."

"Hi." Dar rolled her head to one side and indicated her somewhat unwelcome visitor. "Kerry, this is Peter Quest, Mr. Quest, this is Kerrison Stuart, my partner."

Kerry extended a hand politely, and gripped his, then released him. "Mr. Quest."

"Nice to meet you," he replied. "Well, Ms. Roberts, as I said, no sense in wasting your time. I'll leave you to get on with your day."

He turned and walked out, leaving Dar and Kerry behind as he disappeared.

Kerry remained silent for a moment, and then she turned to Dar. "So, what was that all about?" she asked. "Someone propositioning you, since you're hanging out in such cutely provocative clothing?"

"Hardly." Dar pushed herself upright. "Let's go upstairs and I'll take your clothes off while I fill you in." She stood and waited for Kerry to join her. "You look like a..."

"Drowned rat?" Kerry sighed, getting up and following her partner. "I feel like a drowned rat that's been hit on the head with a brick." She rubbed her neck. "I'm not having a good day."

Dar slipped her arm around Kerry's back, ignoring the dampness. "Problems at the show?" she asked. "You should have called me."

Kerry sighed and fell silent, taking solace in the comfort of Dar's close presence. "Not the show," she admitted after they'd entered the elevator. "I got pegged by both our new little friends and I think I lost it with them. They pissed me off."

"Uh oh." Dar chuckled softly. "Did you draw blood?"

"It's not funny, Dar," Kerry muttered. "I told them both off."

Dar slid her keycard into the door and opened it, then held it open as Kerry entered. She followed her inside and closed the door, blinking as she realized housekeeping had been in and cleaned the room while she'd been gone. Somehow, they'd managed to make the bed and place the laptop in its exact position where she'd left it. "Glad I locked the screen."

Kerry took off her jacket and laid it across the back of a chair. She didn't look up when Dar came over to her, but as a pair of a warm, strong hands touched her neck and began to massage it she turned her head to the side and brushed the nearer one with her lips. "So what was that guy all about?"

"Had an offer I refused," Dar said.

"Mm. Been that kinda day."

"I may call him back, but I wanted to talk to you first." Dar replied, keeping up her rhythmic kneading. "You had lunch?"

Kerry shook her head. The ache in her head was fading, and she felt the tension draining out of her at Dar's skilled touch. She unbuttoned her skirt and let it slip down, kicking it off to one side and almost tripping as Dar started mixing a few playful nips along with her massage. "So you don't mind if I blew out any possibility of us being civil to our booth neighbors?"

"Nope." Dar blew in her ear. "You saved me the trouble." She slid her arms around Kerry. "Besides, it might work to our advantage if we end up competing head-to-head with them for a new services contract."

Kerry stopped in mid motion and looked over her shoulder. "What?"

"How do you feel about New Zealand?"

Kerry's brows knit. "New Zealand?" she asked. Wh..."

Dar chuckled. "Let's get some lunch, and I'll explain the whole damn thing," she said. "And you can tell me what happened with Heckle and Jeckle."

"Mmph." Kerry half turned in Dar's arms and snuggled up to her, plucking at one of the catches on her overalls. "That's the best deal I've heard all day." Her eyes fell on the table. "Oh." She blinked. "Did that come for me?"

"Uh huh." Dar waited expectantly. "Gonna open it?"

Finally, a smile appeared on Kerry's face, along with a devilish twinkle in her eyes. "Nope."

"No?"

"We'll never get to have lunch." Kerry gave her a quick kiss, and slipped out of Dar's grasp, heading for her suitcase to get a change of clothes.

Dar looked at her, then turned and looked at the mysterious box.

Both eyebrows crawled up into her hairline and a delighted grin appeared. "Ah hah." She folded her arms. "Couldn't we call room service instead?"

Kerry merely chuckled, and shook her index finger at her partner.