"Alan!"

"Oh yeah sure," Kerry shot back. "I sold out to a fundamentalist organization that probably prefers to have gay people euthanized. Yeah. I'm into that. "She put her hands on her hips. "If anyone sold this country out it's you. It's this damn government."

"Kerrison!"

"That's the kind of patriot you raised." Markhaus pointed at Cynthia. "That's what the biggest problem this country has. Sick minds!" He turned and left. Cynthia chased after him in furious silence, leaving Kerry to stand bristling in the middle of the room with no place for her anger to go but inside.

"Shit." Abruptly she sat down, her temples threatening to explode. She could hear her heart hammering in her chest, and the throbbing was making red streaks against the inside of her eyes as she sat there with them closed.

It was too much. She wanted to throw up, every inch of her body twitching with unreleased anger. It was hard to think.

Hard to breathe.

Then a hand gripped her knee, warm and sure, a casual familiarity in the touch that made her eyes blink open. "Uh?"

"Hey beautiful," Dar's voice tickled her ears. "Can I buy you a drink?"

She felt a moment of tingling shock then the anger and frustration evaporated as she took in the twinkle in those blue eyes and felt a smile replacing the grimace on her face.

Heaven.

Kerry exhaled audibly, slumping sideways against the tall figure kneeling at her side, her head coming to rest on Dar's shoulder as she felt Dar's hand come up and cradle the side of her face, the warmth against her skin intoxicating in its own right. "Oh thank God!"

"Thank Gerry, a couple of Air Force pilots, and six big hungry Marines," her partner said. "We're your volunteers."

"Ungh." Kerry captured Dar's hand and kissed it relentlessly. "Mark is dead for not telling me you were there. You're dead for not telling me you were there. I was a nervous wreck wondering where you were."

"Sorry." Dar kissed her on the forehead. "I idiotically left my cell and PDA in my briefcase that is sitting back in Miami. I figured another ten minutes wouldn't matter after that and I wanted to surprise you."

"You did."

"Didn't mean to stress you."

"Don't care." Kerry closed her eyes, absorbing her partner's scent, and the sound of her voice and the gentle touch stroking her hair. "All better now."

The inner door closed. Kerry heard footsteps and the sound of a chair squeaking nearby. She opened one eye to see her mother looking back at her, her expression distressed. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Cynthia said. "The man is an ass."

Kerry felt Dar's body jerk with silent laughter. She smiled in reaction, feeling a physical sense of relief it was hard to quantify or describe. "Dar's here."

"Yes, I did notice that," Cynthia said. "I'm glad."

"My Dad's outside talking to the Marines," Dar said. "Alastair went on to New York."

"Awesome," Kerry mumbled. "Can I have that drink now?"

Dar stroked her hair. "Sure." She glanced over at Kerry's mother. "Want a drink too?"

"Absolutely," Cynthia Stuart said. "I think we should get out of here at once."

"Best idea I've heard all day." Kerry managed to stand as Dar rose to her feet, wrapped her arms around her partner and hugged her as hard as she could. "Unnngh."

Dar returned the hug fully. "Damn I missed you," she said, in an undertone. "Damn, damn, damn."

"Damn, damn, damn," Kerry repeated, rocking them both back and forth. "You got that right."


Chapter Twenty

"YOU MUST BE exhausted." Kerry nevertheless was content to sprawl half across Dar's lap in the back of the SUV, her head resting on her partner's thigh as Dar's hands worked the kinks out of her neck. "Do you even know what time it is?"

"Do you even think I care?" Dar glanced at the driver's seats, where her father was ensconced at the wheel with Kerry's mother directing him. It gave her a Twilight Zone feeling and she quickly returned her attention to Kerry.

"Probly not."

"You're probly right." Dar was tired, but not sleepy. In truth, given all the travel, she really had no sense of what time her body thought it was, but regardless, she was looking forward to a dark hotel room and a nice soft bed with her partner in it. "Mark made some good progress over there."

"I know," Kerry said. "I really wanted to get out of there because I was more in their way than anything once I'd gotten the brass on the same page as us."

Dar chuckled. "Our technology bus has become the social center onsite. If the PR department were here they'd be pissing in their pants at all the good press they didn't arrange or pay for."

Kerry smiled, her fingertips tracing the seam line of Dar's jeans. Then her smile faded. "It's awful about Bob."

"Yeah," Dar exhaled. "Alastair's pretty shaken up over it. I think he really wanted to be here with us, but his family is old friends of Bob's." She kneaded Kerry's shoulders, feeling the tension in the tight muscles there. "I think the rest of the staff there will be glad to see him though."

"Ungh."

"How's your headache?"

"Better," Kerry murmured. "Just having you here makes me feel better. Why is that? You always do that to me."

Dar gazed quietly down at her. "I don't know," she said, after a pause. "I know I feel better just being here. You think we're nuts?"

"Probably," Kerry acknowledged. "Do you care?"

"Nope."

"Me either."

"I need to call Gerry in the morning," Dar said. "I'm sure he tried to call me tonight but the only place I have his private number is in my cell." She sighed. "I'll have to have Maria get it for me."

"I can't believe you forgot your briefcase," Kerry mumbled. "Jesus, Dar. That has your laptop in it."

"Also had my wallet in it," her partner informed her. "Luckily for me I did remember to bring my father."

"What's that, Dardar?" Andrew asked, from the driver's seat. "You kids all right back there? We're almost to that there hotel of yours."

"I was just telling Kerry about our trip," Dar said. "I hear that hotel has a nice bar."

"With leather chairs," Kerry supplied. "The big cushy ones."

"Ah do believe a beer would be right nice about now," Andrew allowed. "Been one hell of a day after another damn hell of a day."

"It was so nice of you to come along, commander," Cynthia said. "You have always been so supportive," she added. "I believe you need to turn--ah, no left there. Ah. Oh."

"Hold on there." Andrew directed the SUV across several lanes of traffic. "Jest be a minute."

"Keep your eyes closed," Dar advised her partner, who had stirred and started to get up. "Don't look. I just got that knot out of your back."

"Mmph." Kerry grunted and relaxed again. "Company has insurance on this thing, right?" She had her knee braced against the back of the front passenger seat, and with Dar's grip on her, and her hold on Dar's leg, she figured she was pretty safe.

It was getting late, and she was really feeling it. She wished she could ask Andrew to just drop them off.

"Thank you again for bringing all those supplies for our poor guards," Cynthia went on. "They were very happy with what you brought I believe."

"Damn sure shoulda been," Andrew said. "That was some nice roast beef, Dardar. You all sure don't fool around with grub, do ya?"

"Nerds require a lot of protein liberally applied," Dar said. "Keeps the brain cells running." She riffled through Kerry's pale hair, as one eyeball appeared and rotated up to watch her. "So yeah, we don't eat quiche."

Andrew chuckled.

"Have you ever eaten quiche?" Kerry asked, in a low mutter.

"Not knowingly," Dar confided. "Have you?"

Kerry nodded mournfully.

Dar leaned closer. "What is quiche?" she whispered.

"Overcooked egg omelette in a cake pan with a bunch of weird stuff it in and not enough egg."

Dar made a face. "Ew." She leaned back against the seat and peered through the front windshield, spotting their hotel rapidly approaching. She could feel a vague disassociation clouding her senses, a product of the long day's worth of overwhelming input. Though she knew there were lists of things she should be doing right at the moment she also knew she wasn't going to do them.

People made mistakes when they were as tired as she was. Like leaving briefcases full of important documents, machines, and credit cards somewhere. Dar gently kneaded the back of Kerry's neck with one hand as she watched the streetlamps go by in silence.

They pulled into the hotel valet lobby, and reluctantly Dar released her partner and gave her a scratch on the back. "Here we are."

With an audible sigh, Kerry pushed herself up and sat back, running the fingers of one hand through her hair. She waited for the valet to open the door and hopped out blinking a little in the cool air as the sounds of the hotel surrounded her.

It all looked a little different. She glanced around her as they walked up the steps and into the lobby, wondering if she was just not remembering what it had been like or if she was imagining differences. She followed Andrew into the big bar, among only a few other patrons, most gathered at the bar watching the television.

She sat down in one of the comfortable looking chairs, and extended her legs as the rest of them settled around her, a waitress in an impeccably cut suit gliding their way at once.

Bad day for business, she guessed. Or, maybe they recognized her mother. She glanced to one side. Or maybe the tall, scarred Andrew caught their eye.