by Melissa Good
"Just wondering… I have to fly through Homestead on my way out tonight.. thought maybe I'd stop by and say hello." Jack replied brightly.
This party was rapidly getting to be about the size of an inaugural ball, Dar mused. "Sure.. why not.. we're having a get together over here.. I'll put your name on the list."
"Great… see you later!" Jack replied, a grin very evident in his voice, as he handed the phone back.
"Well, that's lovely." Gerald stated, sounding pleased. "You two get along so nicely."
Dar sighed inwardly. "Yeah, we sure do… listen, tell Mom I said Merry Christmas.. and I hope you like the gifts."
"Don't worry, rugrat… anything you send is always good stuff." Gerald chuckled. "Talk at you later." He hung up, and Dar let the phone drop to her knee.
"Rug rat?" Kerry grinned evilly.
"Don’t start." Dar warned jokingly. "He's been calling me that since I was twelve."
"Rug rat.. that's so cute." She leaned her head against Dar's arm. "He's nice."
"He is.. .he tries to be family to me." Dar replied quietly. "His wife's very sweet…and a great cook.. which reminds me." Now a dark brow edged up. "I hear I have a spy in my camp."
Green eyes twinkled. "Whoops… hey, you better be thanking me, because otherwise you'd have been munching on Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving."
Dar leaned over and kissed her. "Thank you." She murmured sincerely. "For coming into my life and changing it for the better."
Kerry hadn't expected that, and she had to swallow, and take a minute to get her breath back before she could answer. "I did that?" She uttered. "Funny.. here I was thinking about how you'd done that for me."
They kissed again, then Dar gently nudged the wrapping they were nestled in aside, and moved closer, pulling Kerry half into her lap so she could concentrate better. "Damn." She glanced up. "I forgot to hang mistletoe."
Kerry explored her lips. "That would be overkill, I think." She admitted softly, laying a hand along Dar's side and slipping it under the soft fabric of her shirt to the warm skin underneath. Her fingers traced familiar curves, and tickled Dar's navel, which caused the taller woman to muffled a laugh. "It's been quite a month, huh?"
Dar nodded, cradling her gently. "Is it… um.." A shrug. "Working out for you?" She kept her voice light, and casual.
But the heartbeat under her ear picked up, and Kerry winced inwardly, as she realized it would be a long time before Dar would lose her quiet, private insecurities. "Yeah, except for one thing." Kerry replied, gazing up at her wryly.
Dark lashes blinked. "What's that?"
Kerry scratched her nose. "Um… this Tuesday and Thursday thing… I… well, I get really depressed when I wake up and realize I'm not going to see you that night."
Dar's eyes brightened. "Really?" She produced a smile. "Well, we could fix that." She replied practically. "It would be more cost effective to car pool.. we could trade off, just to confuse people."
Kerry slowly nodded. "We could do that."
Dar reached over to the tree and plucked something off of it, examining it before handing it to her blond companion.
"What's that?" Kerry peered at it, a translucent piece of plastic.
"Your resident's decal." The executive admitted. "I was going kind of nuts when you weren't here too."
"So.. I'm not driving you crazy, then?"
"Nope."
"Good." Kerry sighed in relief, letting her head rest against Dar's shoulder. "Because I'm so totally in love with you, it should be illegal." She admitted quietly. "I wonder if it's like this for everyone."
"I don't know." Dar found herself having trouble swallowing. "But it's never been like this for me before… ad I doubt it ever will be again, so I hope this lasts a long time." That was more than she had ever planned to admit, and now all she could do was wait to hear the response to a question she couldn’t bring herself to ask.
"Mm… I hate to tell you this, Dar… " Kerry's eyes gentled. "But when I was.. um… eight, I think, I decided if I ever fell in love it would be one of those forever and ever things." She took a breath, as she felt Dar stop breathing entirely. "I know that sounds really…. Um… "
"Perfect." Dar blurted. "It sounds… perfect… forever and ever sounds… just fine with me."
Forever. Something inside Kerry smiled contentedly. "I guess that's settled then." She remarked, snuggling happily down into Dar's arms.
Welcome home.
Kerry glanced up. "Did you say something?"
The blue eyes seemed to deepen a shade, and a faint hint of amusement tinged them. "Nothing you haven't heard before… just that I love you."
Kerry's brows knit. "I thought…' Then she tugged her ear. "Hearing things…I love you, too."
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The sun made Kerry wince as she turned westward onto the causeway and headed towards the airport. She flipped her sunglasses out of the Mustang's glove compartment, and slipped them on, getting relief from the intense glare. A Christmas music CD was playing merrily in her CD player, and she hummed along as she picked up I395, then made the exchange to 836 towards the airport.
Traffic was surprisingly light, and she figured she got everyone between those that did a big Christmas lunch and were now half comatose in front of football, and those who had Christmas dinner, and were making last minute preparations. Those people who eschewed the day all together, were probably at the beach, since just about everything else except Walgreens was closed.
The airport, on the other hand, was a royal mess. Kerry sighed, and dodged a number of taxis as she entered the arrival lanes, finding tempers flaring in the heat. She pulled off into short term parking, and grabbed a ticket, hoping to get lucky.
And of course, she didn't, ending up about as far away from the Northwest terminal as she could and still be in MIA, but she figured she was early, and the walk wouldn't hurt her any, not after that breakfast, at any rate.
Kerry ran a hand through her fair hair, and got out, locking the Mustang and squaring her shoulders. She was really glad they were coming, but the sense of guilt she felt for fracturing a good part of their lives was weighing heavily on her.
There was no one else to take the responsibility, after all. Dar had even been shocked she'd released the information, and only the fact that the server sent the documents out anonymously had saved her ass when the recipients received them, and the shit hit the fan.
Dar would have stood behind her, she knew. But resigning would have really been her only option - mixing the company up in business like that would have been something not even her powerful boss could have protected her from. It was bad enough she'd been called by the judicial subcommittee investigating the matter, to testify. That had caused a wild round of whispers at work, though… now that she thought about it, there had been more looks of veiled admiration than anything else, and Eleanor Anastasia had even slinked into her office, and commented on how much she respected Kerry for coming to work for a company her father hated so much.
One thing, at least, she didn't have to worry about them finding any way she'd benefited from the nasty stuff. She'd been self supporting since college, and she'd had Mark do a trace to make sure there were no hidden bank accounts with suspicious dollars in them under her name. But the press had been sniffing around anyway, and she'd been glad more than once that she worked in a secure building, and spent most of her time on a nice, inaccessible island in someone elses condo.
Kerry walked briskly across the parking lot, glad she'd chosen a light t-shirt tucked into faded jeans for the trip as she began to feel the heat. The concourse was invitingly cool, and she went inside with a feeling of relief, then she stopped, startled at the seemingly mindless chaos before her.
Bad weather in the rest of the country had forced hundreds, if not thousands of people to camp out in the airport, and there were bodies slumped everywhere, trying to get some rest. The restaurants were working
overtime, and it looked like a multinational convention inside. "Wow." She headed off towards Terminal G, where Northwest was housed, and wandered over to a display, searching for the flight. It was one of the few on time, she was glad to note, and due in approximately ten minutes. Kerry assured herself of the gate, then she edged into a cappuccino bar, and ordered herself a double, as she sat down to wait.
She took a sip of her coffee, and enjoyed the strong taste as it entered her system, and perked her up. While she'd seen Angela at Thanksgiving, she hadn't seen her brother since the preceding holidays, and she wondered if he'd changed any. She knew she had, her hair was shorter, and a lot more sun-streaked, and she was packing an additional fifteen pounds of what was mostly muscle on her slim frame which had broadened her shoulders, and given her a completely different way of walking and moving.
That was all the swimming, diving, running, and climbing she'd been doing with Dar, which required an incredible amount of energy, but which had made her feel really good about the way she looked and felt. Everyone looked at her when she walked into a room now, and she liked that she'd found, even though she thought that was incredibly egotistical and she'd never admit it to anyone but herself.
Ah. A crowd of people were heading out from the Northwest flights, carrying overcoats, mufflers, scarves, and heavy winter sweaters. Kerry sincerely hoped they'd all take them off before the walked out the front doors, so they wouldn't cause a traffic jam when they passed out from heat stroke. She spotted her sister and brother as they headed towards the exit, and she stood up, draining her cappuccino and heading towards them, catching Angela's eye as she approached.
Her sister plucked Michael's sleeve, and pointed, and Kerry had to muffle a smile as her brother caught sight of her and his dark eyebrows jerked up as his eyes widened. Guess I do look different, she decided, as she closed with them. "Hey… "
Michael hugged her, before he stepped back, and held her at arm's length. "Holy shit, Kerry… do I know you?" Her brother was slightly shorter than she was, and had disheveled brown hair and hazel eyes. He was lightly built, and had a perpetual look of wonderment about him. "Check you out."
"This isn't a library." Kerry answered wryly, before she shook herself loose from his grip and hugged Angela. "Good to see you guys… even though the cause is pretty bad." She exchanged looks with them. "How was the flight?"
"Given the weather everywhere else, it really wasn't bad." Angela told her. "The change in Detroit was on time for once, and even though it was bumpy most of the way, once we'd crossed into Florida, it was beautiful." She glanced around. "This place is a zoo."
"No, that's further south." Kerry replied solemnly. "Actually, everyone's pretty much stuck here, because the weather's so bad up in the Northeast and the Midwest." She tugged their sleeves. "C'mon.. do you guys have any baggage? Hope not."
Michael shook his head. "Nope.. just these carryons.. we figured one change of clothes would be enough to get us through tonight… we've got a noon flight back tomorrow. Angela's supposed to pick up Sally at five, and I have a flight out to school at seven. "
Kerry deftly guided them through the concourse and towards the doors. "First off, take your coats off." She warned.
"We'll be fine" Angela laughed.
"Okay." Kerry hit the floor plate to open the doors, and they went from 72 degree humidity controlled air conditioning into 88 degree 98 percent humidity.
"Whoa." Angela stopped. "Gotcha.. coats gotta come off." She stripped out of her heavy jacket and draped it over one arm while Michael did the same, also pulling off his heavy sweater. "Good grief, it's green." She commented, glancing around. "It's so weird."
Kerry smiled. "You get used to it after a while… come on. I'm parked out in south nowhere." She started across the parking lot, and her siblings followed, with Angela catching up to her quickly. "How much does he know?" Kerry asked softly.
"Well.. he knows about.. um.. you." Angela answered in a whisper. "And about Dar."
"Darn good thing.. since we're going over to her place. " Kerry replied wryly.
"Yeah.. but he doesn’t know about me and Brian.. and he's.. um.. he's got the idea that he's going to make sure Dar can.. um.. as he put it 'take care of my sister.'"
"Oh boy." Kerry burst into laughter, quickly muffled. "Well, no problems there.. wait till he sees her place." She shot a glance at her brother, who was staring around with interest at the thick foliage.
"How's Dar, anyway? I forgot to ask you before." Angela asked, casually.
Kerry smiled. "She's fine…we just opened our presents to each other… Jesus, did we ever go nuts." She confided. "And it's her birthday today, too, so… "
Angela nodded, and exhaled. "She seemed really nice, just that few minutes I got to meet her.. and you never did tell me exactly how she got involved in that whole thing with you."
"Long story." Kerry muttered, as Michael trotted back over to them. "So.. how's school?"
"A pain in the ass." Michael replied sourly. "I had to tell my statistics professor off the other day." He kicked a rock, an oddly adolescent behavior considering his age. "It didn't help.. he failed me anyway."
Kerry sighed. "Uh oh… are you in trouble?" She gave him a knowing look. School had never been Michael's strong point. In fact, she wasn't sure what was.
"Yeah." He peered at her sheepishly. "In fact, I owe you a big one, sis… if it hadn't been for you shaking up the world, I'd have had to tell em I flunked out this semester again, and they'd have cared." He admitted, as they approached Kerry's car. "Hey.. that hotrod yours?"
"Yes.. and no, you can't drive it." Kerry hit the automatic keylock, and popped the trunk for their carryon bags. "I like my insurance low, thanks." She waited for them to put their stuff in, then closed the hatch and opened the doors. "You'll get to meet some of my friends and coworkers tonight.. we had a party planned, so.. "
"Great." Michael gallantly got into the back seat, and allowed Angela the priveledge of riding up front. "I wanna meet this Dar person, though… you should hear dad talk about her."
Kerry started the car, and put it into gear. "Don’t' worry.. you will." She promised, pulling carefully out of the parking lot and heading for the toll booth. "And Mike.. don't try anything with her, okay? She's out of your league."
Her brother snorted. "I'm wounded… like I would make a move on my sister's sweetie… yeah, right!" He gave Kerry a rakish grin. "I can't help it if girls think I'm cute, though…and what exactly do you mean, out of my league?"
Kerry didn't answer, as she was busy paying for her parking and navigating the exit roads to catch the right highway out of the airport. They talked about inconsequential stuff on the trip back, and Kerry pointed out a few landmarks as they hit the causeway, including the Port of Miami. "The cruise ships go out of there….it's quite a sight on Sunday mornings." She pulled into the ferry terminal. "You have to ride a boat out to Dar's place."
"Whooo.. now that's privacy." Michael stated, approvingly.
Kerry almost pulled into the guest's lane, then she remembered at the last moment, and diverted smoothing into the special row for residents, getting a smile and wave from the security guard.
Angela glanced at the sign, then at her. "Residents Lane, huh?" She asked, one eyebrow lifting. "Looks like they know you pretty well here."
"Hi Carlos." Kerry greeted the deckhand. "Merry Christmas."
"Feliz Navidad, Ms. Kerry." The man waved, the pointed at her new sticker and gave her a thumbs up, as he crossed the deck of the ferry and secured the ramp.
Kerry was aware of the looks she was getting from her siblings, but she waited for the ferry to undock, and start it's way across the cut before she glanced at them.
"So… you live here too?" Michael asked, curiously.
"Pretty much, yeah." Kerry replied. "Dar's got a big place.. five bedrooms.. there's plenty of breathing space there. She asked me after Thanksgiving if I wanted to move in part time.. and I said yes." She was aware of the aw
kward silence. "She inherited the condo from an aunt of hers.. pretty much rent free. We share expenses otherwise, though."
"Oh.. .like roommates." Angela answered, slowly. "Doesn't that mess you up at work?"
"Not really." Kerry replied, leaning back, and propping her knee up against the steering wheel. "We don't mention it at work… and we pretty much just do our jobs there." A shrug. "Then we just go home… I was staying at my place most of the week, but that's getting pretty pointless."
Another really awkward silence. "So.. this is.. like, really serious, isn't it?" Michael finally asked slowly. "You two are like.. living together, right?"
Kerry turned her head to regard him. "Yes… this isn't one of your flings of the week, Mike." She felt her temper prickling a little. "Or did you think I was just kissing my bosses ass?" A pause. "Literally."
