”Um...thanks,” she finally replied, taking her hand back and flexing the fingers a touch nervously. ”Listen, I’ll be inside, trying to catch up.”

She clutched her papers, and headed for her office, ducking inside the door and closing it behind her with a sigh.

Then she looked up, stopping short as she caught sight of her desk.

”Holy shit.”

KERRY PUT HER hands behind her back as she leaned on the wall, gazing with total lack of interest at the buff weave on the inside of the elevator. It would be a weird day, she knew, and as if to confirm that, the elevator stopped on the ninth floor and two of the marketing secretaries got on. Their chatter stopped the minute they saw her, and they lapsed into silence.

I could get tired of this real quick, Kerry decided. ”Hi,” she remarked casually.

They exchanged glances. ”Oh, hi, Kerry,” the older one said, a fake smile plastered across her face. ”So, how are things?”

”Great,” Kerry replied. ”How about you?”

”Oh...great...great.” She turned to her companion. ”Right?”

The shorter of the two women nodded. ”Except that it’s Monday, yep, everything’s terrific.”

An awkward silence proceeded to fall. Fortunately, the elevator reached the bottom floor, and they could all escape, right into a crowd of people just getting there.

A crowd that included Steven Fabracini.

Kerry met his eyes

squarely as she exited, unable to resist giving him a smile as people edged aside to get out of the way. “Morning.”

His nostrils twitched. “Morning,” he replied quite stiffly.

“Congratulations.”

Her breeding held, surprisingly. “Thank you,” Kerry responded without artifice. “Excuse me.” She edged past him and cleared the Hurricane Watch

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throng, half expecting him to follow her.

“Hey, Kerry!” Mary Lou hailed her. “Well done!” she said, in a voice a little louder than probably was necessary.

“Thanks.” Kerry waved a hand casually at her. “It was all Dar. I just held the scalpel tray.”

The accountant sidled up to her. “Not what I heard,” she said, in a lower tone. “My brother-in-law works in the data center up there. He said you guys were incredible.”

“We got the job done. That’s what mattered.” Kerry headed off towards the cafeteria, shaking her head a little. At the entrance, she almost collided with Mark, who was just coming out. ”Oh. Hey.”

”Hey!” Mark gave her a big grin. ”Great, that means the big kahuna’s here too, right?”

Kerry muffled a smile. ”If you mean Dar, yes. She’s upstairs. We just got here.” It was so nice just to have someone be normal, she reflected. ”Just trying to get things settled down. It’s a little weird today.”

”Today?” Mark took her elbow and steered her inside the café, where they settled on two of the padded stools. ”You shoulda been here on Friday. Man, after you guys brought the network back up, everyone was going nuts. Then all off a sudden all the suits get called into a video conference call, and the next thing I know, we got an email saying Dar’d been promoted.”

”Wow.” Kerry laughed softly, then gave the waitress her order. ”I think we slept through all that. Was that when you called?”

”Uh huh.” Mark sipped his coffee, regarding her. ”Word’s out about you guys,” he added, lowering his voice quite a bit. “I mean, like big time.”

Kerry picked up a napkin, looking around and seeing the eyes dart off of her. ”I figured,” she replied. ”After that whole thing with Steven, I knew he’d spread that around.” She exhaled. ”We’d pretty much decided to just be open about it anyway. After all, Alastair doesn’t care.””Mm,” Mark grunted. ”Kinda rough on you, though, isn’t it?” He gave her a sympathetic look. ”People assume shit.”

Yeah. Well. ”They can bite me,” Kerry responded. ”They assumed all kinds of things anyway, Mark. The hell with them.” She glanced up as her order arrived. ”Thank you.” She reached out and took the bag.

”Let me get back upstairs. I know it’s going to be a zoo today.”

”Hey.” Mark touched her hand, giving her a hesitant grin. ”Nice ring ya got there.”

Kerry paused, flexing her fingers a little. ”Thanks. Yeah...um...”

She felt herself blush. ”Dar gave it to me.”

”She’s got good taste.” The MIS chief admired it. ”But then, we kinda knew that.” He winked at her, chuckling as her blush deepened.

”Listen, don’t let all the crap bother you, Kerry. You do a great job, and 284

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most everyone knows that. A lot of the shit’s just jealousy. There’re people that have wanted to get inside that office, and if you’ll excuse the disgusting comment, inside Dar’s skirt for years.” He shrugged. ”It drives ‘em nuts that you just walked in here, and shazam.” He snapped his fingers. ”You got the job, the perks, and the hottest looking VP this company ever had all in one, bigass fell swoop.”

Kerry took the cover off her coffee and took a swallow. ”Thanks, Mark. I know it’s kinda hard to believe. In fact, sometimes I find it kinda hard to believe myself,” she added, in a low tone. ”It’s like magic, you know?” She glanced up at him. ”I feel like a little kid at the circus sometimes.”

He gazed at her, a little disconcerted. ”I don’t know, that’s kinda beyond me, Kerry. I don’t know about a lot of that stuff, but I do know Dar’s been through a lot of shit, and if she finally found someone she really likes, fuck the company, you know?”

That got a smile from Kerry. ”Yeah, I do know,” she agreed quietly.

”We’ll work it out. Its just going to take some time for everything to settle down again. ” She leaned forward, changing the subject firmly.

”Did you really put her picture up on everyone’s desktop?”

He grinned. ”You friggen betcha.” He stood, and indicated that she precede him. ”C’mon, I’ve been hiding cause I know she’s gonna kick my ass when she sees it, but it was too good a shot to pass up.”

Kerry laughed, and held the door for him. ”Oh yeah, she was having a fit, but I convinced her to leave it until we got in, because I wanted to see it.”

They walked outside and almost crashed into Eleanor and José, who were entering. Both executives backed up, and gave them dirty looks. ”Good morning.” Kerry smiled at them.

”Good morning,” José replied gruffly, circling her as though she were some kind of dangerous animal. Eleanor followed him without a word.

Kerry and Mark exchanged looks. ”Ooo.” The MIS manager winced. ”Gonna be some meeting this morning.”

Yeah. Kerry watched the reactions as they got back into the elevator, and noticed a subtle, but distinct edging away from her. Is there such a thing as a scarlet L, she mused. Or do they think it’s contagious? She leaned back, trying to wash the thought out of her mind.”Hey, Kerry.”

She looked up, to see Elaine, one of the data entry supervisors actually coming closer to her. ”Morning.”

”I hear you guys did a kick ass job up in NC, way cool,” Elaine commented, with a grin. ”You going to meet with the climbing group Wednesday?”

Kerry smiled, relaxing a little. ”Yes, I think so. My hand’s a little sore but I think it’ll be okay.” She gave Elaine a grateful look. ”I missed Hurricane Watch

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going this past week; be nice to get back to it.” Her eyes moved to where they were getting a disgusted look from one of the administrative assistants. ”Do you have a problem?” she asked the woman directly.

Only the squeak of the elevator was heard for a long moment.

Kerry held the woman’s gaze, her own unamused and stony. ”You can say yes, ma’am, or no ma’am, take your pick,” she added, icily.

The woman sucked in a breath. ”No, ma’am. I have no problem.”

The doors slid open on the eighth floor and the two younger women escaped hastily, leaving the doors to close after them. Kerry settled back against the wall and sighed. ”Jerks.”

Elaine rolled her eyes. ”Phobes.” She shook her head, then glanced at Kerry. ”Don’t let them get to you.”

Them. Kerry considered, as the elevator went to the fourteenth floor. ”So it’s us and them,” she mused. ”Are there a lot of us?” she asked Elaine curiously.

An enigmatic smile crossed the tall blonde’s face. ”I’ll send you an email,” she remarked, as the doors slid open, and they got out. ”You’d be surprised.”

Kerry inhaled, as she watched Elaine and Mark saunter off down the hall. ”Would I?” She shook her head and trotted towards Dar’s office, opening the outer door and slipping in. ”Hi Maria. I’m back,”

The secretary glanced over, and smiled at her. ”I got you some coffee.”

”Muchas Gracias, Kerrisita.” She pointed at the door. ”I think el jefa is still in the shock, you better go see.”

Puzzled, Kerry set down Maria’s little cup of cafacito, then took her bag and entered Dar’s office.

The scent of roses almost bowled her over. ”Jesus.” She blinked, trying to find her lover behind a huge arrangement of three colors of the flowers, which dwarfed her desktop. ”Hello? Dar? Do I need to go get a machete?”

Blue eyes peeked out from behind a creamy, peach colored rose.

”Hi.” It was Dar, at her most sheepish. ”It’s a little big, huh?”

Kerry edged around the desk, to find her lover slouched in her chair, regarding her flowers with some trepidation. ”Dar, it’s gorgeous.

Who sent it?” There must have been three dozen blooms, a dozen in red, in peach, and in yellow. The scent was almost overwhelming.

Wordlessly, Dar handed her the card she’d found on it.