Good work.

D

Then she added two small GIFS, one of a sheep, and one of a rock, and clicked send. Then she got up and stretched, leaving the laptop behind as she roamed over to the window and looked out.

Today, it was reasonably sunny outside, and the streets were full of walkers. Dar suddenly had the urge to be outside as well, and she put that plan immediately into motion, closing down her laptop and heading for the shower.

There was shopping to be had, and cute trinkets for Kerry to be bought, and she thought she saw a couple of street food vendors off in the distance.

Just the thing to start the day off right.

KERRY LAY FLAT on her back on her bed, her hands behind her head as the early morning sun poured into her window. After a moment's rest, she continued her crunches, counting under her breath as she worked through her last set, ending up grimacing on the last few but getting through them.

"Ugh." She spread her arms out and stretched them, waiting for the burn to fade in her midsection. Then she rolled over and got up, twisting her torso and making shadowboxing motions to shake her muscles out as she went to the dresser.

Her laptop was seated on it, whirring through its screen saver placidly until she touched the track pad and it presented her login screen. She rattled in her password and unlocked it, opening her mail program and watching the screen fill with dark lines.

"Aha!" She pounced on the one from Dar immediately, clicking it as the rest of the mail downloaded. She leaned on the counter and scanned the words, a relieved and happy grin appearing a moment later. "Yes!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Score!"

Finding Dar in a mistake was so rare that when it did happen, she spent hours and hours going over the data to make sure she was looking at it from the right point of view until she felt secure enough to mention it.

Dar never seemed to get pissed off about it. Kerry suspected if she approached her in public with the issue, her beloved partner wouldn't appreciate it but she never did, and Dar's reaction either was an explanation of why whatever it was happened to be that way, or else, like this time, a cheerful admission of guilt and an action plan to fix it.

Awesome. Kerry stepped away from the desk and went to the window, peering out through the teak wood slats at what was going to be a gorgeous day. Though just seven, it was already light outside and she could see a beautiful, almost cloudless sky through the tree branches.

Great day to go out on the lake. She sighed. "Oh well, next time." She turned and went back to the dresser, picking up her laptop and carrying it back to the bed with her. She sat down cross-legged, and studied her mail.

Relatively uneventful. She clicked over and opened her morning report from operations, scanning it lightly until she came across an entry for the northeast sector and saw the outage notation. One eyebrow lifted. "And I didn't get a page, why?" She clicked the report. "Oh, that's why."

Opportunistic of her night administrators. Kerry couldn't really argue with the logic of contacting her apparently available boss, but really, there was a process for that sort of thing. She blinked as a small box popped up next to her cursor.

Hey. Ah. Speaking of the devil. Hey cowboy. What's up? Cowboy? Kerry smiled. I saw the outage report from this morning.

Ah. Dar seemed to reflect on that. I sent a nasty gram to the vendor. I copied you. Looks like someone tripped over a power cable at their New York Corporate Office or something.

Where are you? Kerry asked.

Just about to leave the hotel for the client site. I just got back from walking around outside. It's gorgeous here today.

Kerry smiled again. Here too. I wish I could go out sailing instead of to mom's brunch. Oh well. Are you doing anything tonight?

The sun winked in the window and striped across the bed, warming Kerry's bare legs. She wiggled her toes in it, and wished very briefly and pointlessly that she was having this conversation in person.

Waiting for you.

So apparently the feeling was mutual. I'm not leaving until tomorrow morning, sweetie. I have to get through the day at moms then I talked Angie into going down to the shops near the lake so I can get goofy trinkets for everyone. She paused. Wish I were at the airport taking off right now though.

<ROFL>

Kerry cocked her head at the screen. What's so funny?

Tell you when I see you. I have to head out. Tell your crazy family I say hi and try to have a good time, okay?

Okay. Kerry typed. Have a good meeting. Love you.

Love you too, later. DD

Kerry chuckled and closed the window, and then she ran her eye over her mail. Not finding anything really urgent, she closed the program and got up to put the laptop back on the dresser.

"Hey, you up?" Angie stuck her head in the door, blinking in surprise to find her older sister in a pair of shorts and a sports bra apparently wide awake. "Boy, you have become an early bird haven't you?"

Kerry chuckled. "I have," she admitted. "I was doing my traveling exercise routine and then chatting with Dar for a bit. C'mon in."

Angie entered, still in her nightgown. "What's a traveling exercise routine?" she asked. "Is that what you do every morning?"

"No." Kerry turned and leaned against the dresser. "At home, Dar and I usually either go for a run in the morning, or if it's too hot and sticky which is often, we go to the island gym or to the pool," she replied. "I just have a few things I do when I am out of town like some sit-ups and push-ups and stuff."

"You're nuts," Angie informed her.

"I am," her sister cheerfully agreed. "But it makes me feel good to do it, so who cares?" She spread her arms out. "Hey, I even joined a softball team. Our company's doing a league."

"Oh my god." Angie rolled her eyes. "You always wanted to do that. You used to bitch about it all the time I remember."

Kerry grinned. "Yeah, I know. But this was something that just came up. It should be fun though." She folded her arms over her chest. "Hey, want to go roust Mike up?"

Angie grinned back. "Actually, I was going to suggest we do that, and then we go out and grab some breakfast somewhere. I gave my cook the morning off because she had a dental appointment."

"I'm all for that," Kerry agreed instantly. "Let's go for it." She headed for the door. "We can get some ice cubes to get Mike awake."

"Ker?"

"Hm?" Kerry paused at the door, with her hand on the knob.

"You going to go wake him up like that?" Angie asked, pointing at her sister's lack of real clothing.

Kerry glanced down at herself, and then she shrugged. "This is what I go out jogging in," she said.

"C'mon. You can't tell me Mike's more conservative than the ghost of Commodore Vanderbilt."

Angie followed her out, shaking her head. "Guess we'll find out in a minute."

DAR RESISTED THE urge to stick her hands in the pockets of her dress slacks as she entered the big dining room along with the rest of their team and Sir Melthon's people. There was a huge sideboard set up, and everyone was definitely in a much better mood today.

Deal was done. Papers were signed. Now they were partners, and as partners, they were no longer the bad guys so everyone was chilled out and a lot friendlier.

"Hello, Ms. Roberts." The man who had been pounding her mercilessly with questions yesterday was now all smiles. "John Status, by the way." He held a hand out. "No hard feelings, I hope?" He had a distinct, rolling accent that was almost musical.

"Not at all." Dar amiably gripped his hand and released it. "I like hard questions. People who don't ask them either aren't serious about dealing with us, or don't know what they're doing."

Status grinned. "Now there's a good solid saying." He took a seat next to Dar at the table. "I'm the lucky man who gets to be in charge of our company net."

Dar was mutely delighted to be sitting next to another nerd. She left Alastair on her other side discussing grouse hunting with two of the other men. "Gets to be, or is?" She was aware of the servers moving around them and the smell of something roasting.

"Is," John said. "Am. Whatever," he clarified. "I've been here for about a year, and the first thing I was asked to do is hook us up with a global network provider." He glanced around. "From this side of the Atlantic."

"Ah." Dar nodded. "We'd heard that." She gave the server a nod as he filled her glass with something that smelled like apples and cinnamon. "It's been tough for us to grow here because of the bias."

"Eh." John lifted his hands.

"I understand the bias. If the positions were reversed, it would be the same on our side," Dar said. "No one wants to work with people who are different and hard to understand. Our business methods are very polar."

The man sat back. "You know though, most Americans don't understand that," he observed. "They just come over here, and try to ride over people with high pressure sales jobs. They never come in and say, well, here's what we do. You interested?"

Dar smiled.

"Now, understand it helps that his nib's godson came in like a raving loony about you," John said. "We were all saying, if Hans has his knickers in that kind of an uproar must be something to it."

"Hey Dar, your admin people in yet?" Alastair interrupted them.