Kerry smiled. "I don't. I'll be okay, Dar. I'm a big girl."

Dar peered down at her. "No you're not."

"Punk."

"Sometimes," Dar agreed. "But you're my one and only. I'm allowed."

The casual confidence in Dar's tone almost took Kerry's breath away. She had always felt a sense of confidence in their relationship but there had always been that shadow of uncertainty in her partner before.

Not anymore. The change had taken her a little by surprise, but in a good way. "Yes, I am, and yes, you are," Kerry agreed. "Thanks, hon."

They released each other, and Kerry continued on her path to the bathroom, removing a T-shirt from the hook behind the door and sliding it over her head. As she brushed her teeth, she glanced at her disheveled reflection, noting the slightly overlong bangs and the image of Yosemite Sam flipping everyone off plastered over her chest. "Maybe I can wear this to dinner with Mom. You think?" She watched Dar's eyebrows hike. "Yeah. Maybe not."

She finished up and wiped her lips with a tissue, the bathroom still feeling a little damp and scented with apricot scrub from Dar's shower. Then she headed for the kitchen, pausing to greet Chino along the way. "Hey, puppy. What's up?"

Chino presented her with a stuffed lamb and a hopeful expression. Obligingly, Kerry tossed it across the living room, escaping into the kitchen as their pet retrieved the toy. "What are you doing?" she asked Dar, who was standing next to the counter.

"Me?" Dar turned her head. "Making breakfast." She moved aside to display the fruits of her labor, which had fruits, but little else in the way of solid nutrition.

Kerry observed the platter, and sighed. "Cheesecake," she said. "Well, it has cheese in it. That's protein."

"And strawberries." Dar pointed.

"Yep." Kerry selected a strawberry half and popped it into her mouth. "Yum." She slid around Dar's tall form and poured coffee into her cup, already resting on the counter. "Actually, that's a perfect thing for breakfast considering where I'm going."

"Me too." Dar licked a bit of strawberry sauce off her fingers. "It's already almost dinner time there," she added, "but I figured having a beer with it would be pushing things."

Kerry paused in mid sip and looked at her. She put the cup down. "How long are you going to be in Europe before I get there?" she inquired, in a wry tone. "Angie's going to wonder why I'm duct taping her boxes and throwing everything into the back of that pickup."

"What pickup?" Dar inquired, getting her own cup of coffee. "Your sister has a pickup truck?" Her voice rose in disbelief.

"No. I rented a pickup truck." Kerry's eyes twinkled. "I figure I can pick my mother up for dinner in it and start the trip off right." She picked up the plate of cheesecake and settled it onto the nearby breakfast counter. "Sit."

Dar took the stool next to her and they shared their breakfast in silence for a few minutes. Then Dar sucked on her fork tines, and gave Kerry a look. "What color pickup truck?"

"Bright red."

"Nice." Dar chuckled. "Now I really wish I was going just to see that." She rested her head on her hand, waiting for Kerry to finish her cheesecake, content to merely watch the morning light bring out the golden highlights in her partner's hair.

"Well." Kerry neatly cut a bit of cake and ate it, pausing to swallow before she continued. "I figured it would be useful to move things, and it's what they had. Either that or a sedan and you know, I just wasn't into a sedan."

"Uh huh," Dar murmured in sympathy. "Kind of like when I rented the motorcycle to drive to headquarters in Houston."

Kerry looked up and grinned. "Exactly," she said. "I know it's really silly and a little juvenile," she admitted. "And I know my mother was really pretty cool about us the last time we were there, it's just that this time you won't be there and I don't want any crap from her. "

"Maybe she caught a clue from the last time," Dar suggested. "After you told her off."

"Mm." Kerry sipped her coffee. "Maybe," she conceded. "She's been all right on the phone. It's just that she gets these family idea things and doesn't understand where I'm coming from." She went back to finishing her breakfast, leaving Dar to study her in silence.

"Y'know," Dar said, after a long pause.

Kerry put her fork down and wiped her lips neatly with a napkin. "I know." Her lips twitched into a reluctant smile. "I know that I was the one who was all over you to reconcile with your mother, and did my damndest to aid and abet that by any means I could think of."

Dar's eyes warmed.

"But your mother didn't stand by while your father threw you in the loony bin, Dar." Kerry went on in a more serious tone, "and even though you had issues, they weren't those kind of issues, were they?"

Dar didn't immediately answer. She sat quietly for a few minutes, sipping the remainder of her coffee, a thoughtful expression on her face while Kerry finished up. "At the time," she said, as Kerry stood to take the plates back over to the sink, "they felt like a lot worse issues."

She got up and took Kerry's cup, following her over to the counter. "But I was young, and clueless, and looking back, yeah." She set the cups in the sink and gave Kerry a kiss on the back of her neck. "I didn't have those kinds of problems."

Kerry waited. "But?" she asked, after a pause.

"But nothing." Dar reached around her to wash off the dishes, trapping her neatly. "Gonna show her your tattoo?"

Kerry chuckled, a low throaty sound while she wiped off the dishes as Dar washed them. "Pick her up for dinner in my red pickup truck in a leather, no strap bustier. How's that?" She smiled, her good humor restored. "Actually, I'll show it to my sister. She'll tell my mother because she can't keep her mouth shut about stuff like that."

"Here we go with that sibling thing again." Dar put the plates up and they walked back through the living room, Chino trotting behind them. "You want to grab a shower? I threw the bags in the car already."

"Sure." Kerry stifled a yawn. "When are your folks due by?"

"Six," Dar said. "Assuming Dad doesn't cause chaos in Government Cut again."

"Uh oh."

AIRPORTS GENERALLY SUCKED. Kerry shouldered her carry on and eased her way through the crowded terminal, assaulted on all sides by loud voices in many languages echoing off the terrazzo floor. The Miami airport was large, sprawling, disorganized, and difficult to navigate at times around the groups of travelers standing with what seemed like month's worth of luggage.

She'd left Dar by the International gates, their extended hug completely unnoticed by the surging crowd as they parted and she'd continued on to her domestic gate further down the concourse. Announcements echoed overhead, but she let them bypass her as she got in line for the security check and tried to pretend she wasn't bummed.

She put her backpack on the belt pulling her laptop out and placing it in a tray along with her cell phone and her PDA. Then she watched it disappear into the X-ray before she walked through the portal as a bored looking guard waved her on. "Thanks." She picked her things up and restored the laptop to its place, then she shouldered the bag and headed down a long, badly carpeted slope toward the waiting area.

Her gate was crowded. Apparently the flight before hers was late getting out. So Kerry bypassed it and went to the small brewpub at the end of the terminal and claimed a seat, letting out a long breath as she eased her pack to the floor.

"Can I get you something?" The bartender stopped by, glancing around the mostly empty space.

"Amber, and a plate of wings," Kerry answered, after reviewing her options. "Thanks."

"No problem."

The bartender moved on, and she turned sideways in her high bar chair, resting her elbows on the back and the bar top and hooking her feet on the rungs.

She was bummed. Kerry flexed her hand, rubbing the edge of her thumb against the ring on her finger. She wasn't really sure why, since she and Dar often traveled independently and anyway, she'd be joining her in a week.

She really wanted to get on Dar's airplane and not her own, and that was sort of pissing her off. "Thanks." She accepted the cold glass of beer from the bartender, and took a sip. Her PDA alert light stuttered red and she put the beer down and picked it up.

Hey. Why the hell would they put a Budweiser Brew House in the international terminal?

Kerry chuckled in reflex and typed out an answer. Are you in there? She was glad of the distraction, her unease calmed by this disassociated communication that had become their way of staying in each other's pockets when they were separated.

It was either that, Burger King, or a health food place. What do you think?

Kerry thought that the fact they'd both ended up in the same bar in two different terminals was pretty funny and also predictable, but she only chuckled and sent back Enjoy your wings.

You too.

"Now, why can't we both be having wings together?" Kerry sighed. "Ah well. Stop being a jerk," she reminded herself, taking another sip of her beer, and forcibly putting aside her gloom. The bartender came back and deposited her plate of wings. She nibbled on one leaned back watched as her gate cleared, and things around her started to settle down.

After a moment, she put her wing down, divested of its flesh, and licked her lips. "Should have packed that damn bustier."

"Ma'am?" The bartender looked up from cleaning his glasses.