One of Kerry's blond eyebrows lifted. "I'd say she had a very significant interest in a specific part of the IT field," she remarked dryly. "Maybe she saw an opportunity to poach two eggs in one cup."

Dar looked at her. "You calling me an egghead?"

They both laughed, relieving the tension. "Ah." Dar shrugged. "So it'll make it interesting. Helps, sort of. At least I know some of their motives and more than one of their tactics." She wrapped her hands around the steering wheel and flexed her fingers. "A tisket a tasket..."

"Pair of bitches in a basket." Kerry warbled back at her, joining Dar in another round of pretty darn close to giddy laughter. "Jesus, it's late." She finally sighed. "I'm losing it. We're losing it." Her fingers curled around Dar's bicep, and she leaned her head against her shoulder. "So, where are we going?"

"Same place we went last time," Dar said, "for a lot of reasons," she went on, evidently realizing Kerry was staring at her. "First off, if I want to ravish you on the balcony, then I really don't want to worry about someone whose paycheck I sign watching from the next one." She cleared her throat. "Second..."

"Ahahahaha." Kerry reached over and covered her mouth. "Whoa. That one's enough for me."

Dar smiled, feeling the pressure as Kerry's fingers gently tweaked her skin. After a moment, she was released. "I want to wake up with you wrapped around me, and not have you almost pass out from the horror of it all."

"Ahhh." Kerry chuckled softly under her breath. "Oh, do remember that." She half covered her face with one hand. "If I could have crawled through the floor of that room, I would have." She reminisced wryly. "You have no idea how I almost levitated off the bed when I woke up--only thing that kept me from freaking out was knowing I'd wake YOU up if I did."

Dar turned onto the access road that led to their destination. "I think I knew, even in my sleep," she said. "I was dreaming about snuggling."

Kerry peered at her from the corner of her eye. "Were you really?"

Dar nodded. "It felt wonderful. Then I woke up, and it was gone. I was pissed."

"I remember." A slow smile crossed Kerry's face. "You said it was a hangover." She paused. "Wait a minute--how did you know? I never did ask you that...was it only a lucky guess?"

Dar reached out and riffled her fingers through Kerry's pale hair. "You left evidence," she replied. "But yeah, it was half a guess. You were acting like you'd gotten caught in the cookie jar."

"Hmph." Kerry managed a dignified look, which swiftly dissolved into a sheepish grin. "I felt really, really stupid."

Dar pouted.

"No, not..." Kerry drew her knee up and wrapped her arms around it as she watched the quiet streetlights whisk by. "I felt like I was out of control... like I had my heart pinned on my jacket lapel or something."

"So..." Dar drawled, "my hoodwinking you into sleeping in my bed didn't clue you in that I wasn't in any better shape?"

Kerry thought about that for a while as they drove through the vast Disney property, toward the large, white, spread out Grand Floridian hotel. "Did you?"

"I enticed you with chocolate," Dar reminded her, with a smile. "Remember?"

How had she ended up in Dar's bed, anyway? They'd been watching the news, and she'd gotten sleepy. She remembered the sweet taste of hot chocolate on her lips, and then the cup had been taken and the covers pulled up around her.

"I could have gotten up and gone to my own room," Kerry mused.

"Uh huh," her partner agreed. "You could have."

"But I didn't want to." The memory surged sweetly over her. "I wanted to stay there with you. I didn't want to be alone."

"Me, either." Dar skillfully navigated the big Lexus into the driveway of the hotel, pulling up at the stately Victorian styled portico and putting the car in park. "I wanted you to stay there with me."

"Ah, I see." Kerry had to smile.

A valet trotted alertly out to meet them. "So I wanted to come back here, and revel in the fact that what I felt that morning..." Dar opened the door and gave the valet a slight smile, then ducked her head back inside the car. "Was dead on real."

Kerry felt, and suspected she looked, slightly wide-eyed at Dar's sudden and somewhat unexpected headlong dive into rampant romanticism. "Okay, honey," she agreed. "I'm all for it!'

Dar's face split into a grin, and her eyes twinkled before she disappeared again and went to open the trunk for the valet. Kerry sat for a moment, and then simply shook her head, opening the door and hopping out.

The hotel hadn't changed. Kerry drew in a breath of warm air scented with night jasmine as she joined Dar in walking toward the door. This late, it was very quiet, a soft hint of music from the speakers and the clatter of cleaning crews was all that accompanied them to the door.

A blast of chilled air met them as they entered, and they strolled across the beautiful lobby that almost succeeded in bringing them right into another world. Kerry allowed herself to be entranced, and she spent a few minutes simply looking around at the soaring ceilings as Dar worked out the details of their room.

"Let's go." Dar put a hand on her shoulder, and smiled.

Kerry took her hand and held it as they walked from the front desk, and strolled across a silver ribbon of their own memories.

"MM. PRETTY." KERRY gazed outside, watching the small, blinking lights as a boat crossed the lake toward the pier in front of the hotel.

Or maybe it was the back of the hotel. It was hard to tell, though the views on this side had it all over the ones on the other side. Kerry leaned against the chilled glass, her breath fogging it slightly as she exhaled. Below them, she could see a few, lone figures walking down the paths, and on the end of the pier two figures sat together, apparently simply enjoying the view as she was.

She watched them lean together, against each other. It made her smile because she knew exactly how good that felt.

Her shoulders ached, and she felt tired from the long day and their active evening, but she wasn't sleepy. Behind her, she could hear Dar rattling around in the bathroom and she spent a moment contrasting the reality of her now, with the memories of the past.

It was almost too disparate to compare. Then, Dar's every motion, every sound had flicked against her unsure awareness, making her heart jump.

Now, they made other parts of her jump, and her heart merely beat calmly, waiting for its other half to finish fussing and come to join her. Kerry could already feel the warmth of Dar's touch and she divided her attention--half to the glistening castle seen in the distance past the glass, and half in the reflection of the room behind her, waiting.

Dar finished arranging their toiletries and re-entered the room, watching Kerry press her nose against the glass sliding door. "I think I remember being suckered into those pretty lights last time I was here."

She flexed her bare toes against the carpet. "By that same look, too."

Kerry had turned and was grinning at her. She was draped in her old, worn Pooh T-shirt, her hair damp from the shower they'd shared. "You didn't take much suckering," she said. "It was just a tiny appeal to your pride, and presto." She snapped her fingers. "Instant monorail ride."

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah." Kerry cheerfully nodded. "Although I did keep trying to convince myself I was doing it to help you relax, and it was for your own good."

"Mm." Dar stretched her body out, popping her shoulders into place. "It was."

"For your own good?"

"Oh yeah." Dar joined her at the glass and slid an arm around her as Kerry turned and they gazed out over the dark water, to the brightly lit theme parks beyond. "I'm damn ticked."

"At me?"

"At those stupid pieces of horse manure." Dar's eyes narrowed. "They're putting a damper on my fun plans, and I don't like it."

Kerry reached over and gave her a rub on the belly. "We can still have fun. We got our stuff done tonight, didn't we?" she asked. "Any reason why we need to be there tomorrow for them to put the froo froo up?"

Dar considered. Then she grunted. "No," she answered. "We're not supposed to be here for another day and a half."

"Exactly," Kerry agreed. "So you, me, and a pair of Florida resident park hopper passes are going to go have a wild and crazy time tomorrow."

"Hm. Do we have those?"

"Yeees." Kerry smirked. "Since I knew you weren't going to let me put the hotel on my card." She batted her fair lashes at her partner. "So get your bathing suit ready, Dardar."

For an answer, Dar moved a bit of Kerry's hair out of the way and gently kissed her neck. "Want some hot chocolate?" she uttered into the smaller woman's ear.

"No." Kerry's eyes closed. "I want you." She let her hand slowly glide up Dar's thigh. "I wanted you the last time I was here, but I couldn't have you."

Dar laughed softly into her ear. "Kerrison, you had me from day one." She slipped her arms around Kerry, and guided her toward the bed, turning in lazy circles as they smiled into each other's eyes. "But I wanted you too."

"You did?" Kerry felt the edge of the bed hit her behind her knees, and she ended up sprawling over it, with Dar's body crouching over her.

"I did." Dar's lips nipped across Kerry's pulse point.

"Oh, baby. You had me." Kerry laughed weakly. "Body, heart, and soul. Just like you do right now."

Dar paused and rested her weight on her elbows, studying her partner. Kerry's hands were already under the fabric of her shirt, stroking her skin with gentle, knowing fingers, and she could see the honest passion in those eyes gazing back at her. "How'd I get so lucky?"