"Off course?" Dar grinned. "You and a mouse. Dangerous."

"Trackball. I hate mice." Kerry corrected her. "Dirty balls--not my style." She leaned over and nibbled a bit of Dar's skin. "So what do you say, Dixiecup? Wanna see if I have even one artistic bone in my body tonight?"

Dar set the jar down and picked Kerry up instead, curling her body around her partner's and delivering a passionately serious kiss that coaxed a soft groan from Kerry's guts and set the blond woman's hands wandering over Dar's skin. "Yeah," she breathed into Kerry's ear. "Paint anything you like on me. I won't even check the spelling."

"Spelling?" Kerry snickered, easing her body flat against Dar's. "Baby, I'm not gonna be writing anything. You're going to see how us repressed WASPS do finger-painting."

They tumbled together across the bed, laughing as they got tangled in the sheets and ended up almost falling off. Dar clasped her arms around Kerry and held her tight, releasing a deeply satisfied sigh. "To hell with all of them," she said. "Let's go have fun."

"Grrowl."

"I'M IN HEAVEN." Kerry put her bare feet up on the railing next to Dar's as they sat and watched the fireworks. Absently, she reached over and took Dar's hand in hers, as she let her other one rest on a very satisfactorily stuffed belly. "Thank god we don't do this all the time. I can only imagine the amount of gym sweat I'd have to put in to keep up with it."

Dar flexed her toes and leaned closer, pressing her shoulder against Kerry's as a new set of colorful lights exploded in the distance. "Mm." She agreed with both sentiments, though it was hard to focus on the question through the beer they'd shared over dinner and the lassitude the warm air was pressing on her. "That was pretty."

"Uh huh." Kerry rested her head against Dar's upper arm. "Paladar Katherine?"

"Mmm..." Dar peered at her. "What have I done?"

"Nothing. I just like your name." Kerry exhaled contentedly. "So...what's our strategy for tomorrow? There are two big panels in the afternoon...one's on the direction of wireless, the others on outsourcing. I think we should be on both of them, don't you?"

"Oh," Dar mused. "Like I didn't make enough trouble today, you want me to try again tomorrow? Alastair's probably already shredded his desk blotter." She lifted the mug of coffee resting by her left elbow and took a sip from it. "I'm surprised he hasn't called."

"Maybe he hasn't heard," Kerry suggested. "It wasn't that big a deal, Dar. Once you started talking them through it, everyone really relaxed."

"Umph." Dar watched several rockets go up, bursting into red and blue patterns overhead. "Yeah, all right. Sign me up. It's more interesting than wandering around in the hall bullshitting." She squeezed Kerry's fingers. "Besides, I get the feeling one of the pitches Telegenics made is that they're a lot more cutting edge than stodgy old ILS."

"Really?"

A perceptible twinkle appeared in Dar's eyes. "I got an email today from an old acquaintance at one of the accounts that switched. She was passing the time of day," she said. "And, I got a little insider info."

"Ahhh." Kerry rumbled softly. "Do I sense some early reservations?"

"Hedging her bets." A grin appeared. "Shirley Applebaum...she's got a lot of sense, and even though we bumped heads when they first signed with us, she's all right."

"Bumped heads...like you and I did?"

Dar laughed. "Kerrison, no one in my life ever bumped heads with me like you did," she assured her partner. "No, I'd only recently become a regional manager when they came onboard...they were my first account."

"Oh."

"Talk about a learning experience." Dar briefly covered her eyes with one hand. "For a while, I thought they were going to be my last account. But it worked out."

"And she said...?"

Dar rubbed her cheek and rested her chin on her hand. "Just that she'd been talking to her new boss, who's the one who made the contract change, and he's all puffed up about how he's gone with the cutting edge new players on the block instead of the old timers."

"Old timers." Kerry glanced at herself, then at her partner. "I could take offense to that."

Dar chuckled. "Shirley said she'd wait to pass judgment until after her first major problem happens. She's a little skeptical about all the promises."

"Are we really that conservative?" Kerry asked. "The models we use, the pricing structure--that always seemed like good business practice to me."

Dar leaned back and thought about that for a while. "We're not really," she concluded. "Our new net is cutting edge, and most everyone knows that. I think it's that we've been around so long, and we're so big, it's hard to react as fast as a smaller company would. That's probably true."

"Hmm."

"On the other hand, we have very deep resources," Dar went on, in a thoughtful tone. "So once you're under contract to us, if your business changes or you need something done immediately, it's nothing more than a phone call."

"That's true. I've done that for customers a hundred times. I never thought of it that way," Kerry said. "Isn't that something the sales people can use when they go to contract?"

"Tricky."

"Obviously." Kerry admired a sudden burst of color as it spread across the sky. "That really is pretty, but I'm glad I'm not under it. I hate the smell of gunpowder."

They both jumped a little and turned as a knock sounded inside the room, echoing faintly through the sliding glass door. Dar frowned. "Are we expecting anyone?"

"Hell no." Kerry got up and shoved the door open, trading the warm concrete for the rough nubble of the carpet against her bare feet. She pressed her hands against the door and peered through the eyehole, pushing back in annoyance when she recognized Michelle's face on the other side. "Son of a bitch," she muttered. "What do you want at ten o'clock at night?"

For a short moment, she debated with herself, seriously considering ignoring the knock and returning to the balcony. Then with a sigh, she grasped the door hand and turned it, her breeding overcoming her baser inclinations by a whisker. "Yes?"

Michelle gazed back at her, for once dressed down in a shirt and jeans and having left most of her pretensions at home, it seemed. "Hi."

"Hi," Kerry responded, leaning against the jamb but not allowing the door to open past her body width. "What can I do for you?"

"Can we talk?" Michelle asked. "I know it's late, I know it's been a long day, I know you're not pleased to see me here."

Kerry felt a warm stream of air suddenly on the back of her neck, and somehow managed not to jump as Dar's hands settled on her hips. Her partner remained silent, however, leaving the decision up to her. "If you know all that, why push it?" she asked. "Maybe tomorrow's a better idea."

"It probably is. But I'd like to talk to you anyway," their unwelcome visitor stated. "Both of you," she added, a little belatedly.

Kerry's face twitched a little as she was pinched very gently on the behind. Then the warmth behind her disappeared, and she straightened up. "Make it fast." She backed up a step and opened the door. "We've got plans for the rest of this evening."

Michelle raised her eyebrows as she slipped past, giving Kerry's faded T-shirt and bare feet a glance. "Thanks."

Kerry followed her inside. Dar had settled on the couch, her long, bare legs sprawled out across the carpet and her arms spread across the back of the cushions. It left enough space next to her for one other person, provided it was someone Dar liked.

Michelle prudently took the chair across from her, and waited until Kerry sat down within the spread of Dar's reach before she crossed one ankle over her knee and cleared her throat. "Okay, I'll cut to the chase, since we all don't want to be here."

"No." Dar let her arm drop down over Kerry's shoulders. "We want to be here." She turned her head and regarded her partner's profile. "What I can't figure out is why the hell you don't follow your business plan and leave us alone." She glanced back at Michelle, raising her eyebrows in question.

Michelle exhaled. "Because you're part of my business plan," she responded. "Look. I know my infrastructure right down to the nuts and screws just like you do." She looked right at Dar. "I know what the capacity is, and I'm at it. I can't expand anymore."

"And?" Dar shrugged. "I could have told you that. You've promised the same service level to all the accounts you picked up this year. If..." She pointed back at Michelle. "If everything runs perfectly, and no one has any increase in demand, you can provide what you promised."

"Yes."

"But things never do work perfectly," Kerry said.

"Except in your network," Michelle concluded. "So that's why I'm here. I know what ILS must pay you. I also know you've been with them forever, and maybe you're ready for a new set of challenges. I want to hire you."

Kerry looked at Michelle, then she turned and looked at Dar. "I know she's talking about you, not me," she stated, with a half chuckle.

"Actually, I'm not stupid," Michelle contradicted her. "Both of you. I know what conflict of interest is and I hate wasting money."

Holy crap. Kerry kept her mouth shut and waited for Dar's reaction. She could feel the slow, rhythmic stroking of her partner's fingers against the back of her shoulder and she was close enough to hear Dar's steady breathing.

Dar sniffed reflectively. "You don't have the money."

"To pay you?" Michelle chuckled. "Mm...you do have an ego."