“Yeah.”

“Nervous?”

“No, I don?t think so.”

Cat rose up and looked at her lover. “You don?t think so? What kind of answer is that? Come on, it?s me. Be honest.”

“It?s not so much that I?m nervous nervous. I?m just hoping that my knee will hold and I won?t dump myself on my ass in front of ten thousand people.”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“No, definitely not that, though I?ll admit to wondering if I?ll come off as rusty as I feel.”

“This from the woman who runs us ragged during practice?”

Dylan chuckled, pulling the blonde back down and kissing the top of her head. “Big difference between running you losers ragged and stepping back out on the court in front of ten thousand screaming maniacs.”

“Then just pretend you?re running your losers ragged. Is there anything I can do to help? You know I?ve got your back on this or I wouldn?t have asked you to play with me.”

“You?ve got a lot of faith.”

“You know it. You are the best female basketball player I have ever seen. Let alone had the privilege to work with. You are the best. I hope at the end of my career, I can say I was half as good as you. We are going to go out there tomorrow and kick their ever loving butts.”

“Oh man you are so good for my ego.”

“That?s nice to know, but that has nothing to do with it, Dylan. You are so talented and such a wonderful person I don?t know how you can even be sweating this.”

Dylan sighed, then shook off the momentary blues. “Just chalk it up to pre-game jitters.”

“You?!?”

“I am human, Cat,” Dylan replied, laughing softly. “Even the Goddess has been known to blow her breakfast before a really big game.”

“You know, that?s not exactly the image I want to have of my hero,” Cat teased.

“And you, Ms Nerves of Steel, never once were anything but cool as a cucumber before a championship game.”

“Well?”

“Thought so.”

This brought a grin to Cat?s lips as she rubbed her hand over Dylan?s stomach. “So are you sleepy?”

“With that hand roaming around like that, are you crazy?”

“Probably a little. I mean this is kinda crazy isn?t it. It could ruin us both.”

“It won?t. We won?t let it.” Dylan rolled over and smiled down at her lover. “I promise.”

No further words needed to be said.

The morning had dawned clear and bright, and Kimberly McKessin was about as high as it was possible to get without benefit of illegal substances. Chosen as one of the top ten fund raisers for this year?s charity games, Kimberly had drawn the Badgers out of a hat and had been quite content with the selection. Others had laughed at the stocky young woman, betting that she?d play all of one game before getting knocked out of the tournament by any one of the “better” teams participating.

And then they had announced Chaney?s injury.

And her replacement.

And the laughing stock had, overnight, become the envy of the neighborhood. Oh, the offers they?d tried to tempt her with when they?d learned; offers that made the shy young woman blush, then redden with a different sort of emotion when she heard them whispering behind their hands that she?d somehow known, that she?d rigged a game she wasn?t even sure she wanted to participate in. She?d held her tongue, though, as was her wont, and faced her tormenters with a serene smile that made them question her mental acuity.

Inside, though, was a different story. Inside, she was screaming and laughing and dancing a jig to shame the most devout Irish lad. Not only was she being given the chance to play beside her favorite active player, Catherine Hodges, but now?The Goddess. She?d pinched herself several times since the announcement, and her bruises were the proof that she wasn?t dreaming.

And now, finally, was the day of reckoning. The day she would finally get to live out her dreams.

She looked down at her belly as it made an ominous rumbling noise. Her face paled, and with a mumbled “shit!”, she turned and ran for the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Stepping out of the bathroom, Dylan wiped her mouth with the corner of the towel slung over her shoulder.

“I thought you only did that before big games,” Cat commented, trying to quell a smirk that was just begging to form at the corners of her mouth.

“What? Brush my teeth?”

Cat?s smart return logjammed in her throat as Dylan flung the towel away, giving the younger woman a full, glorious view of her lover in tight black spandex. The nearly knee-length biker-style pants rode smooth on Dylan?s heavily muscled thighs, and the vision started up a steel drum band in Cat?s chest.

“Earth to Cat,” Dylan said, laughing. “You in there, darlin?”

“I?.” With difficulty, Cat swallowed through the desert that had taken up residence in her mouth. She lifted her eyes, only to be confronted with Dylan?s black sports bra covered chest. “Um?.” She blinked. “Do we have something we?re supposed to be doing today?”

Dylan?s laughter richened as she closed the distance between them and gathered Cat into a warm hug before separating just enough to place a very sexy kiss on her lover?s delicious lips. “Unfortunately, we do. Although?” Her eyes brightened as she bent slightly, and before Cat knew it, she was cradled in two very powerful arms. “It occurs to me that I?ve neglected to teach you some very important pre-game rituals.”

Lesson time was on, and this particular student proved to be a very apt, and interested, pupil.

“Dylan?”

“Mmm?” Dylan didn?t look up as she fiddled with the new brace on her knee. Longer, tighter, and more complicated than the one she?d worn during the volleyball tournament, she knew it would take a good bit of getting used to. To be truthful, though, the brace wasn?t what was keeping her eyes from her partner. No, that would belong to the fact that if she looked up and saw Cat?s sleepy, languid form just barely hidden by the sheet she?d thrown over the smaller woman, there would be more than five thousand pissed off fans and one outraged boss calling for her head, because they?d never make the tournament.

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

“You were asking?”

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

“Sometimes,” was her honest reply.

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

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

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

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

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

Kim stood off to the side, watching as the players from the other teams got introduces. She couldn?t have kept the grin off her face if someone had threatened her with bodily harm, and her cheek muscles were starting to ache something fierce. At least her stomach had calmed, thanks to the consumption of enough Pepto to plug up an elephant.

She?d already met her own teammates. Well, perhaps “met” was a bit too strong a word to use. She?d accepted Dylan?s warm handshake, but didn?t dare look her in the eyes, afraid she?d embarrass herself by fainting dead away. Touching the woman was bad enough.

Cat, on the other hand, was everything Kim thought she?d be and more. In a way, she felt vindicated. Her mother had always told her not to look up to sports and entertainment stars. They were human too, after all, and most of them, or so her mother often remarked from behind the pages of the latest People or Star, were rat bastards to boot.

But Cat had been every bit as kind and as sweet as Kim dreamed she?d be.

Besides, she had the cutest smile.

And the most awesome green eyes.

And?

Kim pinched herself once again, stopping the burgeoning fantasy dead in its tracks.

Well, at least she didn?t feel faint anymore.

Cat also stood along the sidelines, watching as the teams were introduced. The very best players from the teams elected to attend the event, and for Cat, it almost as if it were her own All-Star game.

“Someday,” she whispered.

And then it was her turn.

The crowd was quiet, waiting. When the smooth voice sounded over the intercom system, Cat felt a familiar thrill rush through her veins.

“Introducing the point guard for the Birmingham Badgers and first round pick in this year?s WBL draft, number three, Catherine Hodges!”

She ran out onto the court to the enthusiastic cheers of five thousand people, smiling and waving to the crowd as she nodded to her opponents and settled herself among them.