"We'll see." Dar ran her fingers through Kerry's hair. "Looks like a decent bunch showed up for it. If they keep showing up, this should turn out all right."

"Yep." Kerry exhaled, closing her eyes. "I'm tired."

"Long day."

"Long day, plus having to chase you all over the hot tub at the end of it." Kerry opened one eye and winked at her. "One of these days a night vision camera tape of us is going to end up in the hands of Panic 7 and boy, are we going to have our fifteen minutes of fame."

"Hmm--that will make for an interesting intro to the next board meeting," Dar mused. "I think at this point, they look forward to stuff like that."

Kerry chuckled and closed her eyes again, exhaling in contentment. "We have to pack," she said. "I'm trying to figure out what I should wear for the speech."

"Clothes?"

Kerry bounced her head against Dar's stomach twice. "Punk," she moaned. "C'mon, Dar. I thought about just wearing a suit."

Dar yawned.

"Business suit, not bathing suit," Kerry clarified. "I figure if they really want to hear from some business chick I can do that."

"You really think they want to hear from some business chick?" Dar asked, lacing her fingers and putting her hands behind her head. "I think they're looking for some crazy rebel who used to be who they are." She studied the ceiling, as she felt Kerry's hand come to rest on her shoulder, her thumb rubbing against the bone. "Rebellion sort of thing."

Kerry had to admit she suspected the same thing. She remembered, vaguely, being that senior in high school, and the last thing she'd have wanted to hear was some boring old lady in a suit talking about career paths. "I still don't know what the hell I'm going to say to them."

"Why not ask them?" Dar suggested. "Get up there and say, 'okay, you asked for me. I'm here. What the hell do you want?'"

Kerry laughed, her breath warming the skin under Dar's shirt. "Sweetie, that works for you. Not for me." She sighed. "Oh well. I'll think of something."

"Wear something sophisticated and sexy," Dar spoke up after a moment's quiet. "And if you can't think of anything to tell them, just open it up for questions. They know more about you than you do about them."

Sometimes, Kerry reflected, Dar had a knack for bringing home to her in sudden, vivid ways the reason she'd been so successful in life. Aside from her being smart, she had a lot of what Kerry's aunt would have called 'good horse sense'. "I love you," she replied simply, turning her head to kiss Dar's chest through her shirt. "Everyone else has Google. I have Dar."

"I love you too." Dar smiled. She unfolded her hands from behind her and half sat up, resting on her elbows. She waited for Kerry to lift her head up, then she rolled over and stretched out lengthwise on the bed as her partner squirmed around to join her. "I'm sorry I'm going to miss that speech, by the way."

Kerry pulled the covers up over them and sighed as Dar turned off the bedside light and the twilight shadows settled over them. It wasn't quite dark in the room. The blinds let in moonlight and the outside lighting, but it was comfortable and familiar.

She eased over and snuggled up next to Dar. "Are you going to miss it? I'm probably going to end up sounding either boring or crazy."

"You think I'd want to miss that?" Dar inquired. "I love watching you give speeches. I duck into the back of the presentation room when you do them at the office."

Kerry blinked invisible in the darkness. "You do?"

"Sure."

"How come you never told me that?"

Dar put her arms around Kerry and half turned onto her side. "Didn't want to make you nervous," she said. "The setup staff started leaving me chocolate cupcakes back there."

Kerry started laughing silently.

"Maybe I can have a little refrigerator installed with milk chugs. You think?"

"I'll order one tomorrow," Kerry assured her. "Now go to bed, cupcake. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

KERRY SAT DOWN on the carved wooden bench and studied her new toys, as she waited for Dar to come out of the condo and join her. On the bench next to her was a bucket with six balls in it, and in her lap was a leather glove, the new hide smell making her nose twitch as she examined it.

A softball glove. She fitted her left hand into it, pausing when the edge of the glove caught on her ring. "Ah." She put the glove down and removed the ring, unlatching the chain she had around her neck and stringing the ring on it. "There. "

She put the glove on again and flexed her hand, feeling the strange constriction as she tensed her fingers and made the leather move. It felt stiff and awkward, and she reasoned that she'd have to work it a little to get it more flexible.

At least, that's what Dar had said.

Experimentally, she picked up one of the balls in the bucket and dropped it into the glove, examining how the leather fit around the object as she closed her hand around it. She held her hand up and turned it upside down, agreeably surprised when the ball stayed in the glove and didn't fall out.

She opened her fingers and the ball fell out, dropping to land in her other hand. She reversed the position of her arms and dropped the ball into the glove again. "Hm."

The far off sound of a door closing made Kerry look up, and across the short grass sward to where the condos were nestled. She immediately spotted Dar trotting down the stairs, and leaned back against the bench to watch her cross the road and head toward her.

She was carrying her own glove, with a bat resting on her shoulder, and an expression that could best be described as 'here we go again'. Kerry stood up as she approached and held her hand up in its glove, flexing the fingers like a leather crab. "Hey."

"Hey," Dar greeted her. "Got it on, huh?" She tucked her own glove under her arm and examined Kerry's, tugging the back of it to make sure her fingers were all the way in. "Fits all right. How's it feel?"

"It feels like I have a honking chunk of leather on my hand," Kerry responded with a cheeky grin. "How's yours?"

"Mm." Dar put the glove on. It was a bit larger than Kerry's and a deep russet color. "Hm."

Kerry glanced at her partner's throat in reflex, seeing the slight bulge under the fabric of her shirt that meant Dar had, as usual, thought ahead to remove her ring. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Dar turned her hand around. "It just feels weird." She left the bat near the bench and picked up a ball. "Want to start with some catch?"

"Sure." Kerry walked with her onto the grass and they faced each other. Dar tossed the ball at her without much preamble, and instinctively Kerry put up her free hand, the one without the glove on it, and caught it. "Yow!" She dropped the ball and shook her hand out. "That stung!"

Dar put her hands on her hips, best as she could with the glove on. "Ker, you're supposed to use this." She held up her gloved hand.

"I know that." Kerry picked the ball up and examined it. Then she faced Dar and tossed it back to her, not surprised when her partner caught it in her glove. "You surprised me."

"Okay." Dar put the ball in her free hand.

"Ready?"

"Ready." Kerry watched Dar toss the ball back, and she concentrated on grabbing it with her glove, finding the thing awkward and clumsy but managing to clamp it around the round target anyway. "Ugh."

"What's wrong?"

"This is hard." Kerry frowned at the glove. "Dar, a billion children do this every year, why does it seem so weird to me?"

Dar walked over to her. "Hon, you've only done it once. Give it a few minutes." She pulled her own glove off and adjusted Kerry's again. "It's stiff."

"Yeah."

"Stiffer than mine." Dar removed the glove and handed it over. "Trade."

"I think that one's too small for you," Kerry protested, but she fitted the new glove on her hand and found it to be a lot more comfortable. "Oh," she murmured in surprise. "That feels nice."

"Okay, let's try that now." Dar retreated, putting on Kerry's glove before she turned around and held the ball up. "Ready?"

"Ready." Kerry held her hand up, and when the ball came at her, she reached out and grabbed it, feeling the round surface hit the palm of the glove in a very satisfying way. "Lots better!" she yelled back, removing the ball and tossing it to Dar.

The new glove seemed to fit her hand better, and it was easier to close her fingers. It felt like a more natural extension of her arm and not quite so much of a club hanging off the end of it.

Weird. Kerry caught the next throw, already getting used to the feel of the ball hitting the glove. She tossed the ball back, pitching it overhand instead of underhand. "Catch that, Dixiecup!"

Dar stretched out one arm and snagged it, barely. "Hey!"

Kerry grinned.

"Told you you'd make a pitcher." Dar tossed it back to her with a grin of her own. "Ker, this is going to be a lot of fun." She tossed the ball back at her partner, watching it get caught with a touch of nascent confidence. "Atta girl."

Kerry felt better about the whole thing too. The last thing she really wanted to do was make a fool of herself in front of half the office, so it was a little reassuring that she could at least handle the basics of softball.

So far, anyway. She dropped the ball into her hand and tensed her fingers around it. She then faced Dar and whipped it back at her, aiming as close as she could to her partner's midsection.

Dar caught it and returned it. They spent the next half hour playing catch with each other as the sun slowly dipped behind the trees and brought a bit of relief to the warm, muggy air.