"Your wish is my command." Dar gazed down into her eyes, a faint smile shaping her lips.
Kerry's nose wrinkled just a little. "You couldn't care less if the whole room is staring at us, could you?"
"Nope."
"Me either." Kerry pulled herself up and gave Dar a kiss on the lips. "Fantastic job, boss. You brought it home."
"Likewise." Dar returned the kiss and then released her and bumped her very gently toward the couch. "Let me get you something to put in your stomach." She watched Kerry settle on the couch, and then turned to find Alastair in front of her. "Hey."
Alastair put his hand on her shoulder and just looked her in the eye.
Dar winked at him. "Sorry to ruin your martyrdom, Alastair."
She was not overly surprised when Alastair pulled her into a hug. She returned it without reservation, feeling a moment of true personal happiness."Bastards."
"We need to talk later," he uttered just loud enough for her to hear. "But thank you, Dar. From my heart, thank you."
Dar patted his back and released him. "No problem."
"No problem." Alastair clasped her shoulder, and made his way to an overstuffed chair, which he sunk into with a long, tired exhale."Anybody got a cup of coffee?"
Dar started to turn, only to find her father there with a bottled protein shake in his hand. "Ah. Thanks Dad. Did you--"
"Heard the kumquat ask you for it," Andrew said. "Think she's hurting. Was a hell of a thing getting to that there place, I will tell you, Paladar. That woman should be in a doctor's office."
Dar glanced at her partner, who had collapsed on the couch. "I know. But I promised we'd go home first. She said we can stop at Dr. Steve's on the way from the airport."
Andrew grunted.
"I'm not hypocritical enough to argue with her. Thanks for helping out, Dad."
Her father clapped her on the back. "Didn't do squat rugrat. Kerry done it all."
Dar took the bottle and returned to the couch, sitting down next to Kerry and opening it. "Here you go." She put her arm over Kerry's shoulders and sighed, as Cynthia Stuart finally got through the crowd and sat down on a chair next to the couch. "Hello again."
"Hello, Dar," Cynthia said. "I'm very worried about Kerry. She seems quite sick."
"Me too." Dar glanced down at her partner, who was sucking at the protein shake, her body pressed against Dar's. "She has some cracked ribs."
"Oh my goodness!"Cynthia blurted. "Kerry! Why didn't you say something?"
Kerry looked up from her shake licking her lips a little. "Didn't have time. Sorry. I guess we need to fill you in on everything else too."Her voice was husky. "Mom got me into the Exchange, Dar. They weren't letting anyone in the front door."
"Thank you." Dar looked at Cynthia. "We were running out of time."
"Well--yes, I could see that--but what exactly were you doing?"
Kerry's mother asked. "I kept hearing the oddest things, about some accident, and some problem or something." She added. "I was even told you were under some kind of investigation!"
Dar looked over at Alastair and raised an eyebrow.
"I think that was really more of a misunderstanding,"Alastair said, drawing Cynthia's attention. He put his hands behind his head, interlacing his fingers. "We got it sorted out--I hope."
"They asked us to help out with some connections to the Exchange," Dar offered.
"Yes, I remember Kerry telling me that." Cynthia returned herattention to them. "Some cables or something was it?"
Dar nodded. "We ran in to a lot of issues, and had to get these engineers from NASA to help us." She indicated the two men. "They came up with a solution at the last minute. That solution was what Kerry was carrying into the Exchange."
"Oh!" Cynthia looked at her daughter. "My goodness!"
Kerry gave her a brief smile. She turned slowly and put her legs up on the couch, putting her head down on Dar's lap. "Yeah, it wasn't really a well thought out plan, but we were out of time," she admitted."I'm really glad I spotted you going in. Wouldn't have worked otherwise."
"Oh, well." Cynthia looked more than a little confused. "Well, of course I was glad to help, but it was so curious that you were having problems with them letting you inside. Didn't they want this problem addressed?"
"Now there's the sixty-four thousand dollar question." Alastair mused. "I tell you, Senator. There were a lot of conflicting motives in that building today."
"Goodness." Cynthia turned toward Alastair again. "But why would that have been, Mr. McLean. Please explain it to me, because I can see no reason for this strange confusion, and I want to understand since I am sure this will come up between me and my colleagues."
"Well--" Alastair drew her attention, giving the pair on the couch some time.
Dar draped one arm carefully over her partner's body. "Feeling any better?"
Kerry turned her head a little, peering up at Dar. "A little." She lifted one hand and rubbed her eyes. "I just feel so damned washed out. It's driving me crazy. I can't think straight," she answered, in a low tone. "Not to mention my guts hurt." She put a hand on her chest. "And I can't get a deep breath because of it."
Dar smoothed the hair back out of her eyes. She could see a glaze in the green eyes looking back at her, and she frowned in concern for along moment before she pulled out her cell phone. "Okay." She dialed a number from the memory. "Second opinion time."
Kerry closed her eyes and let her cheek rest against Dar's belly. It felt good to be lying down, and even better to be lying down on top of her partner. She wrapped her fingers around Dar's arm and concentrated on breathing shallowly, as she listened to the phone conversation.
"Hey, Sheryl. It's Dar." Dar watched the twitching tension across her partner's face. "Is the doc in? Can I talk to him for a minute?" She waited through a few moments of Gloria Estefan hold music, and then a familiar voice answered. "Hi, Dr. Steve."
"Hey Dar. What's up? Where are ya?"
"New York. Listen, Kerry's here with me and she ran into some trouble."
Their family doctor chuckled wryly. "You're rubbing off on her."
"She got a couple of cracked ribs." Dar went on. "They said it was hairline, but she's feeling pretty bad right now. Says she feels drained and can't think straight."
"Where is she?"
"Lying in my lap," Dar admitted. "But I don't think that's causing it." That even got a smile from Kerry, who opened her eyes and peered up at her. "She's white as a sheet."
There was a bit of rattling and a scuffing noise. "Hang on," Dr. Steve said, his voice a little more serious now. "You know which ribs they are?"
Dar looked down at Kerry who shrugged faintly, and then casually unbuttoned her shirt.
"Go ahead and count. You can see where the bandages are." Kerry closed her eyes again feeling a bit of a draft from the room on her now exposed skin. "Glad I decided on a sports bra this morning."
Dar gently counted up from her waistline. "Six from the bottom," she spoke into the phone. "Somewhere around there."
"Uh huh." Dr. Steve grunted. "They said it was a crack?"
"Just a hairline fracture according to the guy at the hospital. He said to have her sleep sitting up and gave her a prescription for the pain. He sent the X-rays back with us."
"What drugs he give her?" Dr. Steve asked.
Dar pulled the bottle out of Kerry's pocket and examined it. "Oxy-Contin. We picked it up yesterday."
"Honey, throw that in the trash," Dr. Steve said immediately. "Where the hell are you? I'll call you in something else. That stuff's a pile of problems. She having any trouble breathing? Dizzy?"
Dar could feel Kerry's ribcage moving under her hand, and it seemed to her to be doing so with more effort than usual. "I think so."
"Don't let her take any more of that," their doctor said. "How long you going to be there?"