"Hm," Cynthia murmured. She glanced up as the waiter returned, bearing a tray with Kerry's beer, her wine, and two plates of green pods. He put the pods and the drinks down, gave them another little bow, and retreated.

Kerry picked up her glass and took a sip of her beer. It was cold and light, and it went down easy. She leaned back against the padded surface and relaxed, glad the day was almost over.

Almost. She had this dinner to get through, drop her mother off back at her office, then make the drive back to her hotel and wait for the crowning end to her day that, with any luck, would involve her, Dar, and being naked.

Or her, Dar, and footy pajamas. Or her, Dar, and remaining fully clothed. She really didn't care as long as the her and the Dar part were in there. She missed her partner something fierce, and now the constant strain and aggravation were starting to wear on her.

"Are these like peas?" her mother asked, studying the edamame.

"Soy beans." Kerry put her beer down and picked one up, squeezing it and popping the resulting bean into her mouth. "With a little salt."

"Oh." Cynthia picked one up and examined it, then put pressure on the end and started a bit as the pod split and the bean almost went across the table. "My goodness." She captured it and put it cautiously to her lips, chewing it as though it might explode.

Kerry finished her pod and went on to the next one. "Dar and I play games with these," she related. "I can squeeze one into her mouth from across the table."

Her mother stared at her. "Kerrison," she said, after a moment. "You don't really."

Kerry smiled wryly. "Yeah, I do," she said. "It's our neighborhood joint near the office. They all know us there. They don't care if we throw food at each other." She picked up another pod. "We do lunch there a lot. It gets so hectic and stressful at the office, it's nice to just sit and blow off steam sometimes."

"That seems very strange," her mother said then sighed. "But really, what isn't strange these days. I don't understand what the world is coming to."

True. Kerry felt like the world had stopped and started spinning the opposite direction. So much had changed in so few days, and looking forward she saw only more change ahead of them. Not good change, either.

It was an uncharacteristically pessimistic feeling. She didn't much like it.

Cynthia ate another bean slowly. She picked up her glass and sipped her wine, watching Kerry over the rim. "It's been a terrible day, hasn't it?"

"Lousy," her daughter agreed. "Lousy couple of days. The only bright spot for me today was Dar telling me she's heading up here." She paused. "Well, that and you telling the other senators off."

Cynthia blinked. "Well, I don't think--" She stopped. "On the other hand, perhaps I did. They made me very upset."

"Me too."

"I am sorry about that," Cynthia said, in a sincere tone. "I really did not expect them to do what they did. I knew they had questions, but I thought they were more interested in finding a way to better communicate. Not--"

"Not find someone to blame?" Kerry half shrugged. "Well, it's over. I hope they learned something from it, but if they didn't, they didn't. don't have time to worry about it." She gave the waiter a smile, as he returned with their salads. "Thanks."

Cynthia picked up her fork and investigated the watercress. "Oh, this is lovely," she said, after tasting a bite. "Quite delightful."

Kerry maneuvered her chopsticks expertly and spent a quiet moment ingesting the greens. They were crisp and fresh, the dressing a touch spicy, and with more than a hint of citrus. "That is good," she said, after wiping her lips.

Her mother took another sip of wine. "This is really very nice, Kerry, " she said. "Is this some place you plan to bring Dar to, when she arrives?"

Kerry slowly finished her salad, considering the question. "Maybe. She loves sushi." She allowed. "I don't think we're going to be here long though. "

"Oh, really?"

"Yes." Kerry wiped her lips on her napkin. "Soon as we get the backups running here, my guess is we'll both be needed in New York." She studied her glass. "There's a lot more to do there." Her brows knit a little. "So many people. So much damage. What a total waste."

Slowly, her mother nodded. "I was very sorry to hear about your colleague. Did you know him well?"

Bob. She hadn't really known him at all. He'd been a name on an email, a voice on the phone. He'd been the guy Dar had been with when Kerry's plane had gotten in trouble, and that was the one set of personal memories she had of him.

He'd been touring Dar around the city, so very proud of it, her partner had said.

Now, being in that city had ended in his death. Kerry was sure he'd never even considered having something like that happen to him. No one did.

Just a routine day for them. Just a regular visit to clients, a bid in process, a day that had probably started with coffee at the deli across from the office at Rockefeller Center, and plans for lunch down in the business district.

"He was our senior sales executive in the Northeast," Kerry said. "I spoke to him often. He was a nice guy." She paused. "He loved New York."

Cynthia shook her head. "Terrible."

"He was a good friend of our CEO's." Kerry went on. "Dar had to tell him they found his body."

"Oh my." Her mother put a hand to her mouth. "How terrible for her. "

Kerry nodded, taking a swallow of her beer. "I'm sure it was tough. She and Alastair are pretty close." She leaned back again, stretching her back out a little. She felt stiff, and her body felt tired, a bone deep ache that made her hope she wasn't coming down with something.

"Really?" Cynthia took a sip of her wine. "I thought he was an older man."

"He is," Kerry agreed. "But Dar's worked for him for a long time. She's pretty much his right hand. He depends on her all the time to get things right." She smiled as the waiter returned, placing their plates down with a flourish. "Thanks. That looks really great."

"Ma'am, excellent. Can I get you another beer?"

"Sure," Kerry readily agreed. "Mother?"

"Well, yes." Cynthia handed over her empty glass. "This looks lovely, and smells delicious," she concluded. "Really, I can't think why I haven't tried this before. Certainly we have plenty of oriental places here in Washington."

Kerry was busy with her sushi, mixing her soy sauce and wasabi just so, and adding a bit of the pickled ginger to it. "Dar tricked me into trying it the first time," she related. "She said I could have teriyaki chicken and a salad, and she had this big plate of really gorgeous colorful sushi in front of her.

"Oh my."

"I ended up eating half of it." Kerry selected a piece of her meal and dipped a bit of it into the soy sauce then popped it into her mouth and chewed contentedly.

"This is wonderful." Cynthia tried her tuna. "So light."

Kerry merely nodded. It had been a long time since her spicy chicken sandwich and the cupcakes hadn't done anything to stabilize her blood sugar. She had a nagging headache, and she just hoped the sushi would settle her body down and let her get through the rest of the night and back to her hotel.

Last thing she needed was a migraine.

"Angela was telling me you have a vacation cabin?" her mother asked. "It sounded lovely."

Kerry swallowed, glad of the subject change to safer and less tense waters. "We do," she said. "Dar and I decided we liked spending time down in the Keys, so we found a place just south of Key Largo and restored a cabin down there."

"How charming!" Cynthia smiled. "I know you and your brother and sister both used to love the cabins down by the lake in the summer."

"Yes, we did." Kerry took a sip of her freshly filled beer. "It's really cute. It has a kitchen, and a nice big living room, a bedroom, and two offices that also have pull down beds," she said. "It's right on the water. We love watching sunsets from the porch."

"You always sound so busy. I'm so glad you take time out to relax," her mother said. "It was so hard for us to take family vacations with your father so occupied all the time. I know you children went to camp, but it's not the same thing."

Kerry chuckled. "I told Dar about my camp experiences a few times and we had to laugh because her idea of camp and my idea of camp were way far apart. "

"Really? But of course, she grew up in Florida, didn't she? I'm sure it's very different there than up in the mountains."

"She grew up on a navy base," Kerry said, quietly. "I think she wanted to be in the navy until she was in high school. So yes, it was very different."

Cynthia glanced at her. "Goodness. What on earth would she have done in the navy? She's far too clever for that."

What would Dar have done in the navy? Kerry used the excuse of ingesting more sushi to give her a moment to ponder the question. She knew Dar had wanted to be a Seal, like Andrew had been, but if not that then what?

"I'm sure she'd have ended up in some position in intelligence, or planning." Kerry wiped her lips. "But I'm very glad she decided to go into IT instead, since I don't think I'd have had a chance to meet her if she'd gone into the service."

There was a small silence. "Well," Cynthia said, after a pause. "I'm glad too."

Kerry looked up from her plate in surprise.

"I am glad," her mother said. "That you found someone who makes you so happy, Kerry. No matter whom that person turned out to be."

Kerry studied her mother's face reflected in the sedate light of the restaurant. "Thanks," she replied in a quiet tone. "I never had a choice about loving Dar and I never wanted one, but losing my family because of it really hurt."