She walked out and shut the door behind her, leaving a slightly stunned Mark sitting at his desk in silence. After a moment the door cracked open again and Peter stuck his head warily inside. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Mark finally let his held breath out. "I think so. She's just really pissed." His brow creased. "I think."
"You think?"
"Yeah." Mark rested his chin on his fist. "But I can't really tell who she's more pissed at, the joker who stuck this on the network, or herself."
Peter looked confused then he slowly withdrew his head and shut the door again, leaving Mark to ponder the question alone.
"KERRY?" Mayte stuck her head around the corner of the door. "I have a fax for you." Kerry looked up from her pile of paperwork, one blond eyebrow cocking. "Nifty. I needed more paper on my desk. Bring it over." Mayte walked into the office and put the thick stack of paper down. "It is from the port, but I do not understand what this is."
Kerry glanced at the cover sheet, and saw a somewhat crude rendition of a seal scrawled on the page. "Ah." She tossed aside her current list of ordering and pulled the stack over. "I do, and boy, we sure did nail down which of her folks Dar gets her doodling from." She flipped through the pages, leaning a little closer to study the details. "Ah." She repeated softly. "Interesting."
"Kerry?"
Kerry looked up again. "Sorry Mayte. Was there something else you needed from me?"
Her assistant fiddled with her hands, then she sat down in Kerry's visitor chair. "Is it all right if I ask you something that is a little personal for me?"
Uh oh. "Sure." Kerry pushed aside the fax and focused her attention. "What's up?"
"Did you...I am sorry, this is very embarrassing, but...did you know right away when you were liking La Jefa?"
Liking? "Um...well, not really." Kerry replied very slowly. "If...I mean, Mayte, are you asking me when I knew I was in love with Dar?"
Mayte turned brick red, even under her already well tanned skin. "Si." She answered in a whisper.
"Boy, that's a tough question." Kerry frowned. "Because we came together in such an odd way--with work and all. But, you know, I will tell you this. I felt something in here," Kerry touched her chest, "from the very minute I set eyes on her. I just didn't know what that something was for a while."
Mayte nodded slowly. "That does make very much sense."
"Are you...uh..." Kerry hesitated. "Someone you're interested in?" She finally asked then they both looked up as Kerry's inner office door opened and Dar entered.
The blue eyes flicked to both women, and Dar paused. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt," she said, retracing her steps.
"No no. I was just leaving." Mayte jumped up and raced out, closing the door quickly behind her.
Dar looked at the door, then looked at Kerry. Both eyebrows shot up.
"Beats me." Kerry shook her head. "She was just asking me about how to know when you're in love."
"Uh oh." Dar advanced again. "Someone catch her eye? Maria hasn't said anything to me at any rate."
"I got the feeling yes." Kerry pushed the fax over toward her.
"Look what Dad sent, and did you talk to Mark? He gave me a rundown on the thing he found. Holy cow, Dar."
Dar flipped through the pages, then looked up at Kerry. "What did you tell her?"
Green eyes blinked in confusion. "Huh? What did I tell who?"
"Mayte."
"About what?"
Dar glanced out the window. "About how you know when you're in love." She peeked back at Kerry's face, with a half abashed grin. "Or did I interrupt that part?"
"Oh." Kerry leaned back. "Yeah, I think you sorta did." She pondered, twiddling her thumbs together. "Probably a good thing...I don't think my going into racing heartbeats and sweating palms would do anything for our professional rapport."
"Probably not." Dar's face eased into a smile.
"Though I did tell her I knew the second I met you." Kerry smiled back. "I'm not sure why she ran out of here like that, though." She idly stifled a yawn. "Was it something I said?"
Dar took a seat on the edge of Kerry's desk, regarding her with a faintly amused expression.
"Stop it." Kerry punched her in the leg. "Don't start with that crush stuff again, Dar. The last thing on earth she'd be asking me if she really had a crush was the question she just asked. Right?"
The taller woman shrugged one shoulder.
Kerry made a face. "You really think so?"
"I really do," Dar replied. "But I don't think you've got much to worry about. She knows you're taken."
Kerry's eyes that twinkled. "Now that's the truth." She leaned her head back against her leather chair. "I'm looking forward to class tonight. You going to be out of your meeting in time?"
Dar had been studying the fax. Now she dropped it lightly onto Kerry's desk and stood. "Yep." She indicated the papers. "Not sure what that gets us, besides what they're paying for the standard gear. Nice of Dad to send it though. Wonder why he had them?"
"Yeah." Kerry twiddled her thumbs. "At least I know we're paying less than they are. Volume has to count for something, eh?" She pushed the fax with her index finger. "What did you think of that thing Mark found?"
Dar had wandered over to the window and was gazing outside. "Slick."
Kerry waited, but Dar offered nothing else on the subject. "Okay." She leaned forward and went back to her mail, recognizing a rebuff when she felt one. "Guess I'll leave that in your ballpark. Mine's busy." She put her head down and concentrated on the screen, trying not to become hyper aware of the figure standing behind her.
She knew Dar was looking at her though. She could feel it, feel the impact of those blue eyes on the back of her head even before she heard the soft rustle of fabric as Dar turned. She heard the light scuff of her footsteps against the carpet, and against her will, she found herself straining to figure out if they were coming closer or leaving.
"I really don't know what to think." Dar's voice sounded unexpectedly loud in the office.
Kerry continued typing. "Well, I'm sure you'll handle it."
Dar resumed her perch on Kerry's desk, making it very difficult to continue to ignore her. Kerry tried, but after a moment she felt a nudge against her shoulder, and it was either look up, or really escalate her miffed feelings into a fight.
Did she want a fight? Kerry swiveled a little and rested her chin on her fist, gazing up at her partner. No. She never really did want to fight. It was just that sometimes their differences pushed them in opposite directions until they clashed. "Yes?"
"Was I being a bitch?" Dar asked.
Kerry shrugged one shoulder.
"I wasn't trying to be," Dar admitted. "That thing Mark found has got me confused."
"Why?"
Kerry's phone rang, and she gave it an evil look. She hit her intercom button. "Mayte, can you get that please? I'm in an important meeting right now."
"Si, of course." Mayte answered back promptly then clicked off.
Kerry returned her attention to Dar. "What's confusing you, honey? Was it more than you expected it to be? Mark showed me the details. It was pretty sophisticated."
Dar sighed. "It was pretty sophisticated," she admitted, running her fingers through her hair in some distraction. "Ker, I know you want to think it was Shari and Michelle, but I..."
"You don't think so? Really? C'mon, Dar. Who else could it be?" Kerry almost laughed. "I mean, let's be real. We have our worst enemies right here in the building, I leave them unsupervised for a half hour, and a couple days later we get hit with an internal probe." She put a hand on Dar's leg. "Honey."
Her partner exhaled. "So now you know why I didn't want to talk about it." She got up and headed for her office, shaking her head. "Just forget it. Yeah, it was probably them."