"If we sit in the back seat," Dar drawled. "Sure."

Kerry grinned. "You know, I was just thinking about the last time we were here."

"Mm...that food festival was a blast."

"I had so much fun," Kerry said. "I hadn't had that much fun with anyone for years, Dar. Years." She flexed the fingers of her free hand in front of her, the light catching the ring on her finger. They'd both suddenly found themselves wearing them, after keeping them on neck chains for so long, and neither of them had really discussed why yet.

One morning, for some reason, she'd decided to put her ring on. Later that day, in a meeting with Dar she'd looked up across the conference table and caught the flash of her partner's ring as she moved her papers. Weird. Synergistic in a way she didn't quite understand, but somehow also very comforting.

Maybe they'd find time later to talk about it.

"Years? Me either," Dar replied. "I remember sitting at the Pub looking across the table at you halfway through dinner, and realizing I never wanted to leave that day."

"Really?"

Dar nodded. "Remember when we were talking about IPv6?"

Kerry chuckled. "Yes."

"I think I fell in love with you right then." Dar smiled easily, laughing when she saw the blush creep up Kerry's neck. "No, that's not really true."

"No?"

"No." Dar rested her head against her fist. "I did that when I saw you the very first time, in that old office of yours," she admitted. "There I was, standing in that doorway, just staring at you like I'd just seen my first multi-partitioned disk array."

Kerry wrinkled her nose. "Thanks. I think."

Dar chuckled. "I'd seen a picture of you, but it didn't do you justice."

"You did?" Kerry asked, cocking her head.

"Sure." Dar stifled a yawn. "Mark thought it was necessary to add a full color picture to your personnel file when he gave it to me."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Kerry started laughing. "For what?"

Dar was silent for a minute. "I don't know," she said. "So I could recognize you when I saw you, I guess...or maybe because we both like good looking women?" Her tone was a touch sheepish. "I didn't think to ask at the time, but I kept your folder in my briefcase for a month so I could look at that damn picture."

Kerry blushed a little.

"Damned if I know why it took me so long to figure out I was in love with you." Dar sighed theatrically. "You'd have thought that was a big enough clue along with how tongue-tied I was when we first met."

Kerry indulged in the memory willingly. "I remember that moment," she murmured. "I remember it being such a lousy day...after Robert told me what was going on, and with all those people looking at me...depending on me to protect them." Her lips parted as a sigh trickled out. "And it was a lousy day for me anyway. I'd talked to my parents the night before and they'd put all kinds of pressure on me to get out of Miami."

"Grr."

"Mm." Kerry nodded wryly. "Then the whole office gang went to lunch that day and invited me to go along. I really wanted to, but I stayed there with my carrots instead."

"And met me."

"And met you," Kerry agreed. "No matter how nasty that was, boy...let me tell you, I knew something happened to me the minute I picked my head up and looked into those baby blues. You were the only thing I thought about for the rest of that day." She reached over and tangled her fingers with Dar's again. "My heart jumped every time I saw an email from you come into my inbox."

Dar smiled at her.

Kerry smiled back and they both dissolved into silent laughter. "We're a couple of mooney saps, you know that?"

"Yeah," Dar admitted. "But I don't give a damn."

"Me, either." Kerry straightened up as the waiter returned putting down the appetizers Dar had ordered. She handed over her now empty mug, and settled her napkin on her lap neatly as she surveyed the tasty plate of nachos and other small Mexican treats. "Mm. Looks good."

Dar selected a morsel and nibbled it. "Couple things I forgot to tell you before we left."

Kerry looked up from a piled high nacho, caught halfway into a bite. Her eyebrows did the talking for her, rising up sharply in question.

"Alastair called."

"Ah." Kerry swallowed and wiped her lips with her napkin. "Is he mad?"

Dar shook her head. "No." She toyed with the tortilla in her fingers. "Well, he was, but after I talked to him for a while he chilled out. But...um..."

Uh oh. Kerry could see the fidgets already starting. "What's up?"

Dar set the chip down and leaned back, resting her hands on the chair arms. "I told him about the ship bid," she said, pausing when the waiter returned with two frosty mugs for them. He set the glasses down and gave them both inquiring looks.

"Everything okay here, ladies?"

"Fine, thanks." Kerry almost sat on her hands to prevent herself from shooing him away. She waited for him to leave, and then scooted her chair closer to Dar. "And?"

"He wants me--wants us--to personally do the bid."

Kerry blinked. She looked around at the restaurant, then focused back on her partner's angular face. "Yeeeah...and? That's a problem? We were going to do that anyway."

"Right," Dar agreed. "It's not a problem, but he pretty much told me he expects me to deliver the contract, no matter what."

Kerry sat back and drew one knee up, circling it with her arms as she contemplated the statement. "Okay," she finally said. "And this is news? Dar, he always expects miracles from you." A crease formed across her brow. "You think it's going to be an issue?"

Dar took a sip of her beer. "Not really, no."

Her companion rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Okay, so what's the problem, sweetheart?" she asked in a soft voice. "If that's not the problem, what is?"

"I got recruited." Dar leaned closer and lowered her voice.

"Again? Jesus! I thought we told that guy to back off, and Michelle said..." Kerry straightened indignantly.

"Not by Telegenics."

"Oh."

"By the army."

Kerry's jaw dropped slightly. "The army?" she repeated. "Wait. What? As in...the U.S. Army? They want us to bid for something?"

With an expression that was a mix of consternation and embarrassment, Dar shook her head. "No. They want me." She poked her thumb at her own chest. "As in...enlisting."

"You?"

"Me."

"In the army?" Kerry goggled at her. "Like...boot camp and everything?"

"Uh huh."

Kerry covered her eyes immediately. "Oh, my god." She peeked through her fingers at her partner. "You have got to be kidding me." She watched Dar shake her head solemnly. "What did you tell them? When did this happen, Dar? Where was I? I was with you most of the afternoon. What did they do, follow you into the bathroom or something?"

Dar settled back again, at last allowing a wry chuckle to emerge. After she'd gotten over the shock of the whole damn thing, it had been sort of funny. "I told them no." She exhaled. "But he was pretty insistent. Made me take his card and said he'd be in touch. They've got some kind of project they're seeking high level engineers for."

"Jesus."

"You were talking to the guys," Dar went on. "Maybe I can talk him into an outsource. He talked like it was happening right now, though," she mused.

"Ah." Kerry picked up a chip and examined it, then munched it thoughtfully. She swallowed, washing down her mouthful with a sip of beer as she pondered. "Right now as in the same timing as the ship deal."

Dar nodded.

"So that's the problem." Kerry picked up another chip. "Was he pissed off when you said no?"

A shrug. "Damned if I cared about that...the hell if he thought I'd even consider it."

Kerry leaned over and offered Dar a nacho, smiling a little as her partner took it from her fingers with a delicate grace. "Of course not. Did he really expect you to drop everything...your job, your life...and just join the Army? That's insane, Dar."

"You got that right." Dar licked her lips. "What in the hell would I say to my father? He forgave me being a rebel, forgave me being gay, and forgave me becoming a yuppie. " She shuddered. "He'd never forgive me for that."

Kerry dissolved into snickers, covering her mouth hastily.

"Chase my butt down and spank me till I sang Dixie," Dar muttered, shaking her head. She leaned back as the waiter returned with a tray, setting down their main courses. "Never hear the end of it, for damn sure."

She watched Kerry drop her face into her hand, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter and after a moment, she relaxed and accepted the absurdity of it all. "What a freaking day."

What a day. Kerry let her laughter run down, and then she picked her mug up and extended it, clinking it against Dar's. "Save it for tomorrow. Whatever happens, we'll just make it work, you and I." She let a smile emerge, looking right into Dar's eyes as she said the last few words. "We can do anything."

"Tonight's for us," Dar agreed quietly.

"For us," Kerry repeated, clinking her glass a third time. "To us."

A strolling guitarist came up behind them, strumming a wordlessly romantic tune as the river took yet another set of lovers anonymously downstream.

KERRY LICKED THE last taste of chocolate off her lips as they strolled around the lake toward the park's entrance. The last firework had gone off overhead, and now the crowds were dispersing, the shops closing up and the park going quiet for the night.

She fit her hand into Dar's as they walked, enjoying the warm comfort as her partner's fingers closed around hers. "Too damn short a trip again."