"You keep the hell out of this, bitch!" one of the women yelled back at her.

"Who are you calling bitch, you ugly piece of shit?" Lori got up. "Take your fucking drama out of here, yeah?"

"Lor, sit down." Rachel grabbed her by the back of her jeans and hauled her down into the chair. "Leave them alone."

The short, dark haired woman glowered at the two arguing women, who were now ignoring her, busy with shoving each other around. "Assholes."

"Hey, ladies." David, one of the church workers hurried over. He was a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, and a neatly trimmed beard. "C'mon, c'mon now...it's a party! Let's be festive!"

Dar slid her arm around Kerry's shoulders and idly watched the entertainment unfolding before her. The two women were on again, off again partners who always seemed to be arguing about something. Dar suspected they both had some real problems and were using each other to keep their minds off them, but she'd never gotten interested enough in the situation to find out.

That sounded so damn callous, Dar acknowledged, but the two women were nasty to most, unpleasant to the rest, and quite probably deserved each other.

"Kiss my ass, fag," the shorter of the two women snapped at David. "Just leave us alone."

"Hey, c'mon now." David held his hands out. "We don't need to get nasty," he warned. "So calm down, okay?"

"Calm this." The same woman shot him a bird.

Kerry looked at Dar. Dar looked back at Kerry. "Do we want to get involved in this?" Kerry asked.

"Well." Dar set her bottle of YooHoo down. "Either we get involved, or we find a different party. I'm not in the mood to listen to this much pointless cursing." She got up and dusted her faded jeans off, stepping around Lori's chair and heading toward the battleground with a resigned sigh.

Kerry got up and followed, trying not to see the anticipatory grins on the faces of their friends. She caught up to Dar as she reached the outskirts of the disturbance, which had now drawn a small crowd.

The two women were short and heavy set, one with close-cropped hair and the other with long braids threaded with beads. The short haired woman also had an eyebrow ring, and a beautiful tattoo of a parrot on one bare shoulder.

"Okay, people." Dar stopped just short of them, putting her hands on her hips and tilted her head slightly to look down at them. "Do what the man says and take it outside."

David sidled up to her immediately, more than pleased to find a ready ally. Kerry stopped a step behind her partner, folding her arms over her chest and waiting to see what would happen next, satisfied to watch the two other women with a sharp eye.

Not that she was at all worried. Dar could more than take care of herself, of Kerry, of David, and probably of everyone in sight without breaking a sweat. In her red tank top, with her burnished tan and solid muscularity, she had presence that was undeniable.

The shorter of the two women turned to confront Dar. "Did someone ask you to get in our business?" she asked.

"Yes," Dar replied in a calm voice. "You did, by acting like a pair of rutting jackasses. So knock it off."

"Or?" the woman asked, sarcastically. "You gonna beat me up?"

Kerry stepped forward, about to intervene. Dar beat her to it, though, and added a tiny bump to her shoulder.

"No. You'd enjoy it too much. Instead, I'm going to cancel all your credit cards and get your driver's licenses revoked if you don't get the hell out of here and stop being such a pair of pitas," Dar replied. "Scram."

The short woman's eyes narrowed, and she tensed, but after a second she shrugged and turned away. "Whatever. Asshole." She flicked her long nailed fingers as she sauntered off, pushing her way through the crowd as she headed toward the door.

Her partner glared at Dar as well. "You think you're so hot. Why don't you go back to your fancy island and leave the real people alone. We were here a long time before you were."

"Okay," Kerry finally got a word in edgewise. "So let me get this straight. You guys cuss and punch each other and mess up everyone's fun here...and you're mad because we don't like to watch?"

"Stupid asshole."

"Kerry Stuart," Kerry corrected her mildly. "And if you're that much into people watching you, why not join the theatre group? I think they're doing MacBeth this summer...sounds right up your alley." She took a step forward, putting herself between Dar and the other woman. "You know what I think? I think you just like to be the center of attention, so that's why you always act out at these shindigs."

"Oh yeah, sure," the woman replied. "Kiss my ass."

"Never in a million years." Kerry took a swig of her beer. "I have better things to kiss." She heard a faint sound come from Dar, and knew if she turned around she'd see very hiked eyebrows. "So now that the show's over, why not go get a drink and be normal like the rest of us."

"Great idea," David chimed in. "C'mon folks, let's get the music started again. She's right. Show's over." He gave two men next to him a nudge, and then signaled the woman standing near the stereo system to turn it up. "Enough, enough, okay? It's a party. Everyone chill."

Kerry turned and bumped Dar with her head, pushing her back toward the couch. "Gwan, you high falutin' rich chick, you."

Dar chuckled under her breath, allowing herself to be herded back to the couch as the crowd slowly broke up and moved way. They settled back down together, giving Lori and Rachel a twinned roll of the eyes as a few others gathered around, watching them with casual interest. "What's next?" Dar asked. "Unisex twister?"

Lori settled into a half unstuffed chair next to the couch. "You guys are too funny. Like Batman and Robin." She accepted the cup Rachel handed to her after a brief sojourn to the bar. "But those two and their little pod always had a problem with the two of you. I'm not really sure why."

"Our bank balances?" Kerry suggested, with a grimace. "Yeah, like we come in here in silk and pearls, flipping our minks." She glanced down at her somewhat worn aviator pants, with their odd assortment of pockets, and then indicated Dar's faded jeans. "What's up with that?"

Lori shrugged.

"I guess some of them figure..." Rachel hesitated. "You know, we're always raising cash for the place. Maybe they think if you have more, you should just give it over."

Dar snorted. "We donate." She lifted a hand. "They want more, they can come do my job and then they can take what they want. Screw that."

"That's right," Kerry said. "We've never said no when David's called us."

"Hey!" Rachel edged back a little. "I didn't say that's what we thought. I just said maybe that's what they think, you know? I mean, your paycheck's your own, yeah? Like all of ours is." She shrugged. "Some people get really jealous when they see someone who has stuff they don't."

"Give me a break." Dar picked up her YooHoo and took a sip.

Kerry sucked at her beer, a look of wry cynicism crossing her face. "Isn't that the truth. I've had to deal with that since I was in frilly Pampers." She sighed. "But you know what, my family only has money. I earn mine."

Lori perched on the arm of the chair her partner was sitting in. "What exactly do you guys do, anyway?" she asked, tactfully steering the conversation down a different track. "Investment banking?"

Dar settled back and extended her legs out, crossing them at the ankles. "We're nerds," she explained briefly.

"Nerds?" Rachel laughed. "You're kidding me. Really?"

Kerry nodded. "Really. Regular, ordinary, working nerds," she added. "Besides, we do our part here. I'm working with those kids every week, and Dar..." She glanced at her partner, who smiled faintly. "Dar shows up and looks great, and doesn't get mad at me for dragging her in here all the time."

"Heh," Dar responded.

"You could join our community action group," Lori suggested. "We've got a lot of stuff planned for this year...lobbying and all that. Bet you're good at it."

"Bet I'm not," Dar said. "Thanks, but no thanks."

Both women across from them looked uncomfortable at that, Kerry noticed. But it was the truth, and she knew Dar generally refused to sugarcoat her answers. "Honestly, our schedule doesn't permit either of us a lot of slack in doing organized things," Kerry said. "We never know when we might have to travel, or get stuck late taking care of a problem."

"Okay, just a suggestion," Lori said. "I'm getting another beer. Want one?" she asked Rachel.

"Sure."

Lori got up and left. Kerry used the slight pause to finish up her beer, and note that Dar had done the same with her YooHoo. "Want another one?" She indicated the bottle. "Or something stronger?"

Dar fiddled with the bottle, then handed it over. "Nah. I'll stick to this. Thanks."

Kerry eased off the couch and gave her a pat on the knee as she planned a path through the growing crowd toward the bar.

Rachel waited for Kerry to vanish, then turned her attention back to the tall, dark haired woman on the couch. "Nerd, huh?"

Dar plucked at the seam of her denims. "Yeah."

"Uh huh."

"KNOW WHAT I think?" Dar sat back, letting the car's air conditioning cool her off.

Kerry was curled up in the passenger seat, looking tousled and somewhat aggravated. "What?"

"I think we need to find a new church."

"Ungh." Kerry rested her head against the leather seat back. "Tell you what. Give me tomorrow off, and I'll find us a new church. How's that?" She shifted, grimacing at the cramping that had manifested with aching suddenness, giving her an unwelcome, yet welcome excuse to leave the party.