"Dar." Kerry covered her eyes. "That's so irresponsible of you."

A shrug. "They're not driving," Dar replied unrepentantly. "They deserve it. They worked their asses off." She paused and leaned over, touching Kerry's arm. "Did you talk to any of them yet about their raises?"

Kerry shook her head slightly. "Didn't think this was the place," she said. "I could pull them out one at a time I guess...might make for a lot more entertaining afternoon for me than it would otherwise."

"Do it," Dar said. "I'll cover this joint."

"Let me get my paperwork." Kerry got up and headed for the locked switch cabinet, where she'd stowed her likewise locked briefcase. "Is there a little room...oh, yeah, I see it. Over there near the entrance."

Dar nodded.

Kerry removed a folder from her case and closed the cabinet back up. Then she stood and went to the first of their techs, sitting at one of the smaller consoles. "John? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

The dark haired man glanced up at her, surprised. "Sure...um..."

"C'mon." Kerry took him by the elbow, and led him out of the booth, giving the rest of the techs now very alertly watching her a smile. "You all are next. Don't worry."

Dar watched the guys, after Kerry walked out of earshot, from the corner of her eyes. They were plainly bewildered, but none of them looked particularly worried.

Now, if it'd been her doing it...

"Hi."

Dar turned to find Michelle on the other side of the divider. Since she was alone, Dar rested her hands on the console and cocked her head in question. "Hi."

Michelle took that as an encouraging sign. "So you're teaching routers to think?"

Dar grinned briefly. "Something like that," she conceded. "It's a project I've been working on for a few months."

"Kerry made it sound pretty impressive. Is it?" Michelle asked, trying for a balance between wary friendliness and challenge. She was pretty sure Dar would only despise fawning.

"We'll see," Dar said. "So far I've gotten a three hundred percent efficiency metric, but it's early days yet."

Michelle blinked. "Are you bullshitting me?"

"No." Dar looked amused. "One of the advantages of working for a stodgy old conservative IT firm is that we've got an R and D budget." She glanced around at the crowd and then looked back at Michelle. "So I hear we're going to be competing over a couple of cruise ships."

Michelle's lips twitched. "I heard you weren't interested in the project. Matter of fact, the principal was calling you all sorts of names for blowing him off."

"Changed my mind." Dar was watching her with those sharp, fathomless pale eyes, so vivid with intelligence they were almost hard to look into. "Should be interesting." She stood up. "Sorry to cut this short, but I'm being waved at." She indicated Jose and Eleanor, who were standing with two men in suits, signaling her.

"No problem." Michelle pushed off from the booth. "Any chance you'd show me how your snazzy router routine works later?"

Dar glanced at her, a cross between mischief and mild irritation on her face. "Can you read assembler?"

Michelle sighed. "No."

"Sorry, then. Guess you're out of luck." Dar stepped down out of the booth and headed for her colleagues, leaving her unwelcome guest to stand there and watch.

Michelle sighed. "Sad thing is, she was probably telling me the truth." She stepped away from the booth and headed back to her own. "So we have to find some other way to scalp that chicken."

"ALL RIGHT, ROBERTS."

Dar tilted her head to one side, making eye contact with the aggressive questioner in gray whom she'd thought had moved on to more interesting things. "Ye...s?" She moderated her usual response.

The man stepped up into the booth and flipped a card at her. Dar picked it up and looked at it, noted the Army insignia then flipped it back to him. "Something I can do for you, Captain Mousser?"

The man turned one of the chairs around and sat on it, folding his arms across the back and studying her with bright, alert eyes. "Yeah. Let's talk. You ever play G.I. Joe as a kid?"

Dar blinked. "What?"

The captain grinned at her. "Wanna get to play with more cool toys than your company could afford in twenty years?"

Oh...Dar groaned inwardly. I've got a bad, bad feeling about this... "No," she said. "I'm happy with the toys I have, thanks."

The Army captain got up and perched on the corner of her console desk. "Hear me out. You might end up interested."

Dar was about to dismiss him, when she thought about how she'd similarly brushed off Quest. "Okay." She settled down to listen. "Pitch me."

KERRY SETTLED BACK in her seat and watched a loaded boat drift by, with two giggling girls in the front and two necking teenagers in the back. She found herself wondering if they were all related, and it reminded her somehow of her much younger years.

They'd never gone to Disney World, but they had gone to a couple of smaller thrill parks up north, usually with some of her father's staff to keep an eye on them. Kerry remembered one such afternoon in the fall, when the crisp air had made everything seem bright and fresh to her. She and Angie had shared a fried dough pastry covered in white powdered sugar, and she'd finally coaxed her sister to come with her on the tall roller coaster.

Angie hadn't enjoyed it at all, she recalled ruefully. She'd ridden the coaster again by herself, but somehow it wasn't the same and by the next year...Kerry dismissed the thought and shook her head, taking a sip of her beer instead.

Dar would go on roller coasters with her, and enjoy them, wouldn't she? "Dar?"

"Yeeeess?"

"How do you feel about thrill rides?"

"Yes," she responded instantly. "They don't have enough of them here."

"Heh." Kerry took another sip of her beer and smirked. "We should try Universal next time. They've got some killer coasters."

"You got it."

Exactly the answer she wanted to hear. Kerry exhaled in satisfaction, casting her eyes around their surroundings with an agreeable smile.

They were inside the Mexican pavilion, where the air was cool and dry, and the lighting a perpetual twilight. It was calm and peaceful, and the scent of Mexican spices filled the air. The restaurant was only half full, and they had a table in the corner with a good view of the 'river' all to themselves.

It was nice. Kerry crossed her denim-covered ankles under the table glad beyond words she was out of her suit and into the jeans and light T-shirt she was currently wearing.

She'd noticed a tendency in herself lately to have less and less affection for the formal business clothing they wore at the office, and at functions like this. Though she never had minded dressing up, and she was self aware enough to acknowledge the vanity of liking how she looked in the neatly tailored fabric, she'd found herself looking forward to shedding them at the end of the day in favor of the softer cottons and denim they both wore at home.

Kerry let her hand rest on her thigh, smoothing her thumb over the faded blue surface with an absent smile.

Across the table from her, similarly attired, Dar was studying the menu with half closed blue eyes. "Hey," she interrupted her companion's ruminations again.

"Mm?" Dar looked past the writing at her. "Are you as glad as I am that's over?"

Kerry grinned wholeheartedly. "You bet, Dixiecup." She lifted her beer, waited for Dar to do the same, and then touched her glass to her partner's. "Here's to a sort of successful trade show."

Dar took a long swallow before she set her mug down. "I think it was successful." She tendered her opinion thoughtfully. "For the company. For us it was one huge pain in the ass."

"Except the dive," Kerry reminded her. "And that first day. That was fun."

"Uh huh."

"And tonight." Kerry reached across the table and fit her fingers around Dar's, giving them a gentle squeeze. "And you know, last night was pretty cool too."

A twinkle grew in Dar's eyes.

"So really, it was the sixteen whatever hours we had to spend in that hall that tanked," Kerry concluded. "And since it's tonight, and I know tonight's gonna be great, to hell with it." She glanced up as their waiter arrived, giving them both a smile. "Hi."

"Buenos noches, Senorita," the boy greeted her cheerfully. "What can I get for you lovely ladies this evening?"

"Two of these, two of these, and one of this." Dar pointed at her menu. "And two more of these in a few minutes." She indicated the beer.

"Got it, thank you." The waiter took the menu and disappeared.

Dar stretched in her chair, then slid down, extending her long legs under the table. She cradled her mug in her hands, sipping her drink slowly as she watched the restaurant fill at a very leisurely pace. Few families, she noted, more couples who seemed to be enjoying the low light and the pavilion's romantic atmosphere.

She tilted her head slightly and let Kerry come into her line of sight, admiring the nice gilded tinge the warm illumination brought to her skin. Her partner's attention was still on the river, so she had a few peaceful moments to simply look at her and enjoy the view.

Kerry must have sensed it, one hand coming up to fiddle with her hair and riffle it back over her ear on the side facing Dar. It was an endearing bit of self-consciousness, and Dar responded to it by dropping her hand beneath the table and finding Kerry's knee to give a light squeeze.

Her partner turned her head and rested her chin on her fist. "Will you ride on the boat with me after dinner?" she asked.