Remember, It’s You I Love: Operation Pink Knight

by Mairsile Leabhair

  “Oh, I’m so happy for you. I was wondering when you would admit it to yourself. In the old days, we’d give you a toaster. Not quite sure why. Anyway, Aunt Ruth, Kate is not capable of the kind of love you deserve.”

  “I know, don’t worry. I just want her to teach me. You know, I’ve only been with men. I want to learn what pleases a woman. Hell, I want to know what pleases me too. Vicky…, this feels so right, talking openly with you about it. I may do a summersault, right here in your office.”

  Vicky laughed and hugged her aunt. “Does mother know?”

  “No, and I’d like to keep it that way, at least for a while. You know it takes some time, to come all the way out.”

  “Oh, you’ll be yanked out of that closet, once Kitty Kat Kate is through with you.”

  ***

  A few hours later, after Vicky finished several meetings that couldn’t distract her from her thoughts, she sat at her desk, nervously flipping her pen, waiting for the phone call she did not want to receive, but knew would come. She tried to distract herself with thoughts of her Aunt Ruth and Kate together. But that only served to make her more nervous. She admired her Aunt’s determination, but feared that she would be a babe in the woods, when it came to Kate. Her Aunt was smart, there was no denying that. Ruth made her fortune with an online discount store, which she then sold for millions and retired at age fifty. Vicky felt that the problem was, ever since her Aunt retired, she had been floundering. Vicky wanted to see her be happy, with a woman who loved her, not who just wanted to use her for sex. She hated to admit it, but Vicky feared that if Kate found out what her Aunt Ruth was worth, she’d never take her claws out of her again.

  Agitated with her own nervousness, and tired of waiting to hear from Aidan, Vicky decided to text her, and see if she was through yet. After all, it had been hours, and the afternoon was quickly turning into evening. Just as Vicky reached for her cell phone, lying on her desk, it began to ring. It was Aidan.

  She grabbed it up and asked, “What did they say?”

  “They said it could be done, but there are a lot of unanswered questions, and I have to fill in the blanks on my own. Want to grab something to eat, and help me figure it out?”

  “Sure, where and when?”

  “Can you come now, and at the pub?”

  “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Though neither of them had gotten any sleep the night before, Vicky felt almost giddy. When Aidan asked her to help with the decision making, her nervousness instantly disappeared, and was replaced by what she called a butterfly chaser. She didn’t mind the butterflies in her stomach so much, because they were more of a nervous excitement, without the agitation. She didn’t know what lie ahead, but it didn’t matter to her, as long as they were together.

  ***

  Vicky pulled her Mercedes up beside Aidan’s Mustang, and parked. O’Brien’s Bar and Grill, had become their favorite place to eat at, since it was where they first met as adults, just a few months ago.

  Aidan was placing a drink order with the waiter, when Vicky walked in.

  “A Guinness for me, and a red wine for m’lady.”

  Not even waiting to sit down first, Vicky asked impatiently, “So what did you find out?”

  But after the fiasco from the past few hours, Aidan needed to reassure Vicky that she was loved, as well as to resolve her own insecurities. She reached for the roses she had hidden away on the bench beside her, and with a grin, presented them to Vicky.

  Vicky inhaled the sweet aroma of the bouquet. “For me? What’s the occasion?”

  “The occasion is that I love you. And that I’m really sorry I messed things up so badly.”

  “Oh, honey, all is forgiven, don’t worry about it.”

  “Even so, I am sorry.” Aidan reached for a dinner roll, and then continued, “Okay, so, here’s what I found out. Our special friend, called you know who, and—”

  “What friend? Who?”

  Aidan looked around the room, then leaned foward, and whispered, “President Trenton and the CIA.”

  “Oh, uh, of course, please continue.” Vicky could had kicked herself for not grasping the insinuation. I’ve got to learn to speak the unspoken language, or I won’t get very far with her.

  After the waiter brought over their drinks, and took their dinner order, Aidan continued, “Okay, so here’s what they can help with. They know that Sam is still alive, and where she’s being held captive. They will feed me up-to-date intel on her movements, so I will know, almost, her every move. They also will send me reports on the enemy’s movement, and what the terrain, and weather is like.” She took a sip of her beer, and waited on Vicky’s response.

  “That’s it? That’s all they will do?”

  “Yeah, afraid so, and they will deny doing, even that much. It’s because of where she’s at. They can’t go in there themselves, because of ongoing negotiations with that country. You see, Sam isn’t in Iraq, she’s in Syria.”

  “Syria? Aren’t they going through a civil war, right now?”

  Aidan’s forehead creased as she looked down at her beer bottle, and played with the label. “Yes, and that makes it much more dangerous for me.”

  “You? Don’t start this again, Aidan. Tell me what it will take to go to Syria.”

  “The main thing is money. In order to train for something like this, I have to pay for it. The agency can set me…, I mean, set us up, with a place in North Carolina that trains civilians. And, because I’ve already had some training, and been through boot camp, they will skip all that, and concentrate the training on specific warfare tactics, instead. It should only take three weeks, except…,” She stopped, and took another swig on her beer.

  “Except what, Aidan? Except that I haven’t been through boot camp, is that it?”

  “Yes, that’s it. Vicky, you just had major surgery a couple of months ago, training like this could hurt you.”

  Aidan tensed up at the vision of Vicky laying on the floor, in a pool of her own blood, from a gunshot wound to the chest. If only she had gotten there sooner, or had been able to take a shot at the bastard before he grabbed Vicky, maybe she could had kept her from getting hurt.

  “I’m completely healed, and don’t forget you had surgery too.” Vicky had a similar uneasy feeling, from when Aidan was shot in the arm by that same terrorist, “but, if it would make you feel better, I’ll ask my doctor about it.”

  “It would, actually, thanks.” But still, Aidan shook her head, sure this was a bad idea. She couldn’t protect Vicky in her own hospital, with police backup, how was she going to be able to protect her in Syria, where she had no help to speak of.

  “Oh, no you don’t, Aidan. Damn it, I can train too. I can go through boot camp, just as well as you did.” When they were kids, Vicky always wanted to do what Aidan could do, and nothing got in the way of that. But this time, her competitiveness was exerting its self, out of desperation. She had to find a way to get through to her lover, because every word out of Aidan’s mouth, seemed to be leaving her out of the picture, and she wouldn’t, couldn’t, allow that. “Okay, hear me out. While you’re training for the espionage stuff, let me go through the boot camp version of it, so at least I know the basics. I know it means crawling around in the dirt, and shooting guns, and stuff like that. I can do this Aidan.”

  One look at Vicky’s chin, jutted out in self-determination, and Aidan knew she was spinning her wheels in quicksand.

  “Aidan, stop analyzing the risks, and tell me what you think about my suggestion.”

  Did she just read my mind? “I think that you and I should go through the whole thing together. I need all of us to have the same training at the same time, so that we communicate almost telepathically.”

  “But, you said all of us. Is there someone else going with us?”

  “Yeah, I talked with Jerry right after I called you, and he wants to help.”

  Vicky felt relieved. Having another soldier there to support Aidan, wo
uld help both of them immensely.

  “So, the Army will let him do this?”

  Aidan shook her head, gulped her beer down, and replied, “No, but he told me his rotation was up, and he just processed out. He’s a civilian now, and it was like he couldn’t wait to see action again. I guess he really hated being a desk jockey.”

  “And he wants to help us…, I knew I liked that boy for some reason.”

  “I just hope I don’t get him killed.”

  “Aidan Marie Cassidy! You cannot let yourself think that way. Jerry and I understand the risks, we know it will be dangerous, but it’s our choice, not yours. You said yourself, that you can’t do this alone, and you need to accept that, Aidan. Put your energy on what needs to be done.”

  Aidan knew Vicky was right. The military had taught her that if she didn’t concentrate on what needed to be done, she could jeopardize not only the mission, but her team as well.

  “Now, let’s go over your list.” Vicky was all business again, something she was good at.

  “I need money, that’s my list.” She looked at Vicky, believing that was the end of the discussion. She knew she didn’t personally have the kind of money, that it would take to train, and buy the equipment they would need in Syria.

  “No problem. Next?”

  “No problem? We’re talking about big bucks here, Vick. Probably more than a hundred thousand dollars. Where will I get that kind of cash?”

  “Aidan, why do you keep thinking you’re in this by yourself? I thought we were a team?”

  “We are, it’s just that…” She looked at the smile on Vicky’s lips, and realized what she was suggesting, “Oh, fuck that! You are not paying for this out of your own pocket. No, I won’t allow it.”

  Drawing a raspy breath, Vicky said disdainly, “Look, ever since you told me about Samantha, we have done nothing but quarrel, and I’m getting pretty damn tired of it. So I’m going to say this once, and in a language you will most certainly understand…, SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

  Vicky put a little too much emphasis in her command, and everyone in the restaurant turned to look at her. Not that Aidan notice, she was so shocked she was impressed, and after a moment’s delay, laughed so hard she almost spit her beer out.

  And though Vicky was secretly proud of herself, she was also mortified. Not that she would ever let Aidan know that. She thought about apologizing to everyone, but decided that would be what the old Victoria would do. The new Vicky, one who was going into the terrifying unknown, didn’t apologize to anyone for anything. Especially now that she knew how to get through to Aidan.

  Aidan lifted her hands in surrender. “You know, you’re sexy when you say fuck. Okay, you win. Tell me what you want me to do.”

  A reversal in roles was quite intoxicating to Vicky. She was going to take every advantage of it. “I want you to take my… our money, train me to be a soldier, and bring Samantha home. Then we’ll get married, and have beautiful babies together, and make love until we’re old and gray. That’s what I want, and that’s what you’re going to do. Got it?”

  Aidan grinned at her headstrong lover, “Yes ma’am.” Her eyes ogled Vicky’s long blond hair, wishing she could grab a handful, and pull her lover to her lips. And those crystal blue eyes, sparkling with tenacious pride, that revealed a spitfire lived behind them. And those lips. Oh those lips! Shimmering, sassy, full of sweet nectar, begging her to drink of their intoxicating wine. Aidan’s eyes continued down to the breast pocket, of Vicky’s royal blue blazer. The pocket that elicited much envy, for underneath it lay two warm, perfectly shaped mounds, of pink tipped enticement, that—

  “And one more thing,” Vicky decided she would add one more addendum to the list. Not only was this new found power intoxicating, it was also very arousing.

  “What? Oh, uh, yes ma’am?”

  “Tonight, I want you to make mad‒passionate…, I mean, you will fuck my brains out, until I say I’ve had enough, got it?”

  Did she just read my mind again? “Oh, yeah! I’ll gladly follow that order, ma’am.”

  Vicky saw her lover’s eyes had turned a dark colored emerald, that they always did, when Aidan was aroused.

  “Aidan. Aidan, snap out of it. You look like you are about to pounce…, on me. Come on now, be serious, we’ll play later, right now let’s finish hashing this out. What else do we need to do?”

  “Well, kid, we need to talk about you, and what you will have to give up, to come with me. First off, training is for nine weeks, so you’ll probably need at least three, possibly four months furlough from work. Do you think corporate will go for that?”

  “No, they probably won’t allow it, but I have the feeling they’re going to fire me, anyway. Perhaps later, after a respectable time has passed, and we are back on budget. But to their way of thinking, I’ve committed too many sins for them to keep me around. So it’s inevitable. That’s a shame too, because I really love that hospital.”

  The flag ship of the health system that Vicky ran, St. Frances Hospital, suffered from a lot more than just a bomb explosion on the nonclinical side of the building. It suffered the stigma of having had a terrorist walk its hallways. And though Vicky and Aidan, single handily ended their reign of terror, and even went on national TV to assure the public, the hospital was safe again, she was afraid that the patients wouldn’t come back, because of the stigma it had produced.

  That, coupled with the fact that the hospital was a Catholic faith based institution, and Vicky, who was also a Catholic, went against their teachings, and had artificial insemination. She was pregnant when she was shot, consequently, losing the baby during the surgery to remove the bullet. That alone, would not sit well with the system board of directors. And then there was the fact that she’s a lesbian, about to be married to a woman. She had resigned herself to the thought that she would be fired at any moment.

  “Well anyway, I’ve given it some thought, and I have several propositions in the works. There’s one I’m particularly interested in, at a prestigious hospital up north. How would you feel about moving to Boston?”

  Aidan answered without hesitation, “Honestly kid, it doesn’t matter to me where we live, as long as we’re together. But I gotta tell you, I’m not interested in being your photographer anymore, Vick. I need a more, uh…, challenging career.”

  Vicky suddenly felt lonely. Granted, Aidan was suffering from amnesia, when Vicky hired her as the hospital photographer. But when she finally had her first love back, after fifteen years, she was subconsciously hoping that Aidan would want to continue on as her employee, just so they could be close.

  “Yes, I’m sure after all you’ve been through lately, that taking pictures of me in a board meeting, would be terribly dull. So what were you thinking about doing, honey?”

  “Well, baby, I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I think I would be, uh…, better suited in the FBI, or the Homeland Security field.”

  Vicky took a quick breath, she knew this was coming, but it still terrified her. Once she put her selfishness aside, not that she felt it was bad to be selfish, when it came to the love of her life, but she knew that Aidan could not be contained in a box. She was a wild stallion that needed to run free, to be truly happy. She had always been that way, even as a child.

  “Remember when we were kids, I think I was six years old, and that bully, Billy, took my favorite lunch box from me? I was crying, and pretty much helpless.”

  “Oh, yeah. I remember that I wanted to beat the snot out of him.”

  “But instead, you played policewoman, and you followed him everywhere he went, even had his friends squealing on him. Then you caught him red handed with my lunch box, and made him return it to me. You’ve been my hero ever since.”

  Aidan realized what Vicky was trying to say, “Thank you,” she whispered breathlessly.

  Vicky took a rose from the bouquet, placed it in her hair, and replied, “No need to thank me, it’s who you are. Go get the bad guys, sweetheart, I’v
e got your back.”

  Aidan turned around and yelled, “Check! Please!” She couldn’t wait any longer. She had to have this ravishing, empathetic, understanding woman, right that instant.

  Chapter 4

  “Good morning, stud muffin.”

  Ruth mumble something under her breath.

  “Oh, not a morning person, are you?”

  “Not really. What time is it?”

  Kate looked at the clock on the motel bedside table, “It’s already six o’clock. I’ve got to get ready for work. Dibs on the shower!”

  “Not if I beat you to it!” Ruth bolted out of bed, wondering where all that sudden burst of extra energy was coming from. She left Kate, lying naked, stretched out across the bed, and she thought briefly about going back to her, but she needed to have the talk first. She couldn’t do that when she was naked, and so enticing.

  Stepping into the shower, Ruth turned on the hot water, and reached for the soap. Her mind played out the speech she would give, that would gently let Kate know, there could be nothing more than sex between them. She was just finding her way, and wasn’t ready for a full time commitment yet. But as Ruth was putting the finishing touches to her, ‘let’s just be friends’, script, Kate had slipped in, and took the soap from her hand. She began lathering Ruth’s back, using her breasts instead of her hands.

  “Oh. Do you ever get enough?”

  Kate squeezed one of her breasts, and Ruth smiled with pleasure.

  “No, lover, there can never be too much of a good thing.” Kate’s other hand made its way down Ruth’s abdomen.

  “You might be…”

  Kate’s hand slid its way down Ruth’s soapy pelvis, to the excited organ that awaited her.

  “Oh!” Ruth grabbed a hold of the shower rail, “You might be on to something!”

  “I love setting off firecrackers first thing in the morning. Really starts the day off with a bang. Don’t you think so?” Kate delighted in pushing Ruth to the apex, and holding on to her, as she soared over it. She’d much rather be the recipient, but this was a virgin, and it was her sworn duty to see that Ruth was welcomed into the wonderful world of lesbian sex, in the best possible, climaxing way. Besides, it was another notch in her belt, that will entertain her cronies for months to come. But after reflecting on future possibilities, Kate decided, this time, she would be more discerning. Ruth was a novice, and it was up to Kate, to bring her protégé up right. Just the thought of offering up her loins so Ruth could learn how to please a woman, was arousing on its own. Maybe she could also teach her about clothes and fashion, while she was at it.