Kerry parked the car and got out, popping the trunk and grabbing both of their bags. “Okay. I hear you.”

Dar eyed her. “I’m being an idiot,” she acknowledged. “Humor me.”“I am. C’mon.” Kerry waited for Dar to join her at the steps and just kept herself from grabbing Dar’s arm as she limped up them. ”Got a little stiff, huh?” she commented offhandedly.

”Yeah,” Dar admitted, reluctantly. “Hurts like hell.”

“Uh huh.”

They both paused at the landing before going up the last set of steps, and looked at each other. Kerry wasn’t sure later which one of them moved first, but somehow she’d gotten her arm around Dar’s back, and Dar had put her longer arm across Kerry’s shoulders, in a quiet surrender that surprised both of them.

”Thanks,” Dar said.

”Anytime,” Kerry replied as she helped her up the stairs. The door opened as they got to it, and Colleen’s friendly greeting cut off in a spate of outraged Irish tainted expletives when she saw her friend’s condition.

”Good Mary and Joseph, Kerry. What in the hell did you two do to yourselves?” Colleen held on to the wriggling Chino and backed up to let them in. ”What happened to your hand? And you’re limping, Dar?”

”It’s a long story,” Kerry sighed as she helped Dar into her room.

”Let me get things settled, and I’ll tell you the sordid tale.”

Dar leaned against the wall and let her head thump back, shifting her weight onto her good leg and working at her belt buckle.

Kerry gently brushed her hands away and took care of that, freeing the belt then unbuttoning the soft, faded jeans. ”That coffee smells good,” she murmured, sliding the fabric down over Dar’s hips and letting it fall, then tangling her fingers in the soft cotton shirt and leaning forward to nuzzle Dar's chest. ”But you smell better.”

A soft chuckle. ”Good thing we showered before we left,” Dar remarked wryly as she nibbled an ear. ”Or you certainly wouldn’t have said that.”

Kerry smiled, kissing her lightly on the lips before she turned her attention to the injured woman’s leg. ”Oh, shit, Dar.”

Dar exhaled. ”Yeah, swelled up a little, I guess.” She regarded her Hurricane Watch

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knee in irritation. The skin was swollen and tight over the injury and colored a lurid collection of reds, blues, and purples. She pulled her shirt off over her head and draped it over the chair nearby. ”Can you hand me my shorts?”

Kerry retrieved her pajamas and handed them over, then knelt and gently touched her lover’s knee, which was slightly flexed as Dar kept her weight off of it. ”Dar, this looks really bad.” She glanced up, irreverantly enjoying the view. ”I think you should get it checked out.”

”Nah,” Dar disagreed. ”It'll be okay tomorrow, just needs a little rest.” She winced as she bent her leg enough to get her shorts on over the bad leg, then almost went down as she put her weight on it to get the other shorts leg on.

”Dar—” Kerry stood quickly and grabbed her, supporting her until she could manage to stand upright. ”Now you look here,” she snapped, reaching down and pulling her lover’s shorts up, then snapping the waistband to get her attention. ”That is not going to be okay.

Tomorrow, you’re going to call Dr. Steve.”

”C’mon, Kerry, it’s not—” Dar stopped, as a white hot bolt of pain ran through her and her jaw clenched. She waited a moment for the stars to stop spinning around her head and sighed. ”Okay, maybe it is.”

A gentle hand patted her belly. ”Good girl.”

”I’m not going to the hospital,” Dar warned. ”I hate them.”

”I know.” Kerry quirked a grin. ”Let’s see what Dr. Steve says.

Maybe he can take you first thing Monday morning at his office, hm?”

”Monday’s out of the question. We’ve got too much stuff going on,”

Dar countered.

”Dar.” Kerry gave her a look. ”All right, we’ll talk him into meeting us at the office tomorrow then.” She gave her lover a triumphant smirk.

”I’m sure he’ll do that for you.”

Yeah, he probably would. Dar grumpily concurred. ”Well, we’ll see.”

She twitched her shirt a little straighter. ”Maybe it’ll be okay tomorrow.”

Just like a little kid. Kerry put an arm around her waist and hugged her gently. ”Come on, into bed.”

Dar resisted the tug. ”I’d rather sit out in the living room for a bit, just to relax,” she objected. ”Besides, it’s hard to eat ice cream lying down.”

Kerry started laughing. ”You do have a one track mind sometimes, you know that?” She relented. ”Okay. You can listen to me tell our sad story, and I’ll get you some darn ice cream.”

Dar allowed herself to be assisted into the living room, one long arm draped over Kerry’s shoulder. ”I like listening to you tell stories,”

she commented. ”You know that.”

”Huh?” Kerry glanced up. ”What do you mean?”

Dar fell silent, considering her words. ”I don’t know. I think I need that coffee,” she finally muttered in consternation, glancing over to see 102

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Colleen reappearing from the kitchen. ”Thanks, Colleen.” She sat down on the couch and Chino stumbled over, climbing onto her feet and whining. ”Okay, okay.” She leaned over and picked the puppy up, suffering the tiny claws and enthusiastic tongue.

Colleen put a tray of coffee cups down and stared at Dar’s knee.

”Jesus and Mary, you look like you were playing rugby or something.”

She sat down and handed cups around. ”So what happened?”

Chino wriggled loose and went over to greet Kerry, nuzzling her arm until she picked the puppy up and cuddled it. ”Hey puppy, did you miss us?”

Chino yawned, making a squeaking noise, then nibbled on Kerry’s arm as the blonde woman tickled her tummy.

Dar settled back into the comfortingly soft leather and propped her leg up on the coffee table, sipping at her coffee and trying to make her body unwind. “What didn’t happen?” she asked rhetorically. “I knew this was going to end up a mess.”

”Wait, I’ll be right back,” Kerry said, heading off into the kitchen, depositing Chino in Dar’s lap on the way.

Dar shifted her position, stretching out on the couch and resting her head on the arm. ”Been quiet here?” she asked Colleen, more to fill the silence than anything else.

”Pretty much, yes,” Colleen answered, pushing her crimson hair back with a freckled hand. ”She was a good girl, except she managed to get a hold of a banana somehow and I had to chase her halfway round the earth to get it back.”

Dar smiled and rubbed the puppy’s head. ”Did you do that?” She watched Chino cock her head, the soft ears flopping over. ”Bananas are probably bad for puppies, huh?”

”Oh yeah.” Colleen laughed. ”Ours got into a bunch when she was a pup and ended up nonstop pooping for a week.” She glanced up as Kerry reentered, carrying a bowl and something in her other hand.

Kerry knelt next to where Dar was sprawled and handed her the bowl. ”Here you go.” She offered her the other hand. ”And here’s some aspirin for the knee.”

Dar balanced the bowl on her chest and took the aspirin, throwing them in the back of her mouth and washing them down with a mouthful of coffee. ”Thanks.” She set the cup down and rescued the ice cream from the interestedly sniffing Chino. ”Hold on there, that’s mine.”

Kerry chuckled and stood up. ”You want an ice pack?”

Dar shook her head. ”Nope,” she mumbled around a mouthful of ice cream, watching Kerry as she returned to the kitchen, coming back with a steaming bowlful of something and a fork.

”Col, there’s more of this if you want,” Kerry commented, waving the fork at her.

”Nope, had something just before you called, but thanks,” the redhead responded with a grin. ”Now, tell your tale, and I’ll be on my Hurricane Watch

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way. The cats will be glad to see me.”

Kerry sighed. ”Where do I start?” she said. “They sent us to a retreat upstate as sort of a team building exercise because everyone’s always fighting in our office.”

”Oh, lord, they sent our management away on one of those, and a branch manager came back pregnant,” Colleen responded. ”Hasn’t been another one since.”

Dar chuckled. ”I have a feeling we won’t be having many after this either.”

”Probably not.” Kerry gave her a look, then chewed a forkful of her leftover Schezuan chicken. ”Anyway, so we got there and...”

There was something soothing about Kerry’s voice, Dar decided, as she sucked on her ice cream. Even if she didn’t listen to all the words, the tone, rising and falling, getting louder to make a point, then dropping off, was as easy on her ears as Kerry’s adorable good looks were easy on her eyes.

Monday, she knew, was going to be an absolute disaster. She almost wished she could just call in sick, but that would leave Kerry to deal with it and that wasn’t fair. Dar scooped up the last of the frozen treat and was about to lick the spoon, when the beseeching brown eyes gazing up between her breasts got the better of her. ”Oh, all right.” She held up the spoon and watched Chino lick it clean, a tiny smudge of ice cream splotching her jet black nose. ”You like ice cream too, huh?”

The puppy made an eager noise and scrambled up, sticking her entire face in the empty bowl, smearing the chocolate all over her creamy fur. ”Hey, hey.”

”Dar, are you feeding that puppy ice cream?” Kerry sounded humorously outraged. ”I can’t believe it.”

”Well, no, that wasn’t my intention,” Dar protested, trying to get the puppy out of the bowl. ”Hey, get out of there.”

Chino finally gave up, pulled her head out of the bowl and licked her chops, then scrambled up and started to clean Dar’s face. ”Aww, c’mon.”