CH. 21 A LITTLE DOWN TIME

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Humble Opinion for posting this. I've been thinking and some reviewers have agreed that I need to show a little more personal interaction between Kara and the other Holograms. Please read and review.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Jem or any of the other characters or the rights to the show. It's just fun, and no profit is earned.

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"Our schedule is fairly light for the next week or so," Kimber commented leaning back on the couch. "A couple of club dates, work on a new album that isn't due for a while yet… it'll almost be like a vacation after the last couple of months."

"Sounds good," Kara said from the spot on the couch next to her. "We could all use a little down time. The two were taking the afternoon to be lazy. The TV was set to a movie both were enjoying and they had no other responsibilities at the moment.

Jerrica was at Starlight Music using her 'down time' to do paperwork. Cheyna was locked in the room she'd turned into a miniature design studio working on new costume ideas and Aja was tinkering on some machine or other with Rio. The Starlight girls were at school, and many had after-school activities ranging from the AV club to soccer practice. The twins were going along to that to see if it was something they might like doing. It would be almost three hours before Kara was due to collect them. Kimber and Kara were the only ones without personal projects to work on at the moment, and neither one minded or felt guilty over it. They'd lived through one of Aja's aerobics workouts earlier that day before everyone went their separate ways and were pleasantly tired.

"Gives us a little time to do things we've been putting off, too." Kimber glanced at Kara meaningfully.

The brunette sighed. There goes the mood, she thought, but I guess it needs to be addressed. "You think I was too hard on her too?" She had, she admitted, been putting it off in the two days since the confrontation, but she wasn't at all sure how to handle it.

"Jerrica said she had never seen you that angry."

"That wasn't me angry, Kimber," Kara corrected, reluctant to make the admission. "That was me scared."

"Huh?" The redhead blinked at her. "You came down on Laura pretty hard, and that was you scared?"

"She's got a lot of potential, we all heard her guitar playing and her singing voice, and she nearly threw it... away." Kara grimaced and Kimber gave her a puzzled look. "I was about to say 'out the window.'"

"Oh." It was Kimber's turn to grimace.

"Like I told Jerrica, I've seen that reaction before, and I can happily go the rest of my life without seeing it again." The worst part of it was that Kara had known Jerry was using something, but it had been too wrapped up in her own problems to take much notice. Seeing Jerry 'flying high' one afternoon had been a rude awakening in itself. Seeing what happened at the tracks had been far worse. The aftermath of that incident was another reason Kara hated hospitals.

"I guess I can understand that, but…maybe it's something Laura should hear? I mean she's walking on eggshells around you when she isn't avoiding you completely."

"I suppose," Kara sighed. For most of her life she'd either been too angry or too busy just getting by worry about what other people thought of her. And Laura, it seemed, didn't have a best friend like Jo to help her through the rough times, the way Kara had. "I don't really… open up. You know that."

"Oh, I know, believe me," Kimber answered. "Good time to start trying."

"Okay," Kara said after a moment. "I'll talk to her tonight. Her behavior is becoming a bit annoying."

"She's scared of you," Kimber chided.

Kara shook her head. "Laura lets other people define her," she disagreed. "I don't understand that." The statement, Kara admitted to herself, wasn't entirely true. When she'd been little, after coming to the orphanage, she had let others define her; one person in particular. She kept her face carefully neutral as she gave the thought of that person a vicious shove. She'd been a wreck back then and she hated remembering the scared little girl that had let one person's actions convince her she... She gave the memory another hard shove. "I'll speak to her." Maybe she could give Laura a boost in that respect, if she could figure out how.

The girl needed self-confidence and that was something that Kara had no clue how to give her, but she could at least make peace with her. It hadn't been her intention to be cruel, but looking back on the confrontation; she realized that was probably how she'd seemed.

"You have no idea what to say to her, do you?" Kimber guessed.

"No."

"Maybe you should just try telling her what you told me…but leave out the part about the window." Kara eyed her for a moment, wondering if Kimber had been trying to make a joke; then she moved on.

"I'll try." She thought for a moment. "I've lost track of the movie."

"Me too," Kimber sighed and turned it off. "Do you remember when you told us about your scars?"

"That was different," Kara shrugged.

"Yeah, but you were straight-forward about it. You weren't looking for sympathy or anything and you made that clear. You just wanted us to have the facts. Maybe you can use that approach with Laura. Say what you need to say."

Kara nodded thoughtfully. "I can do that, but I have no idea what to do about her self-confidence."

"You can't give her self-confidence," Kimber allowed. She thought for a bit. "Maybe it'll help to know that you don't think she's worthless, though?"

Kara winced. That really hadn't been her intention. "I'll do what I can."

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Jerrica looked up from her paperwork when the door opened. Rio smiled at her. "The first time in over a month you've had a chance to slow down and you're sitting here frantically doing paperwork."

"If I get behind, Starlight Music suffers, and that means Starlight Foundation suffers. People depend on me Rio."

"No argument," Rio said easily. "Still, there's nothing here that can't wait till tomorrow."

"I suppose," Jerrica sighed, looking over the pile of reports and invoices she had yet to review and approve. There was nothing urgent there. She signed one last document, tossed it into her OUT box and stood up. "Let's get out of here." Rio grinned.

"Late lunch and a movie?"

"Sounds perfect." She paused. "I thought you and Aja were going to be busy all day?"

"We need some parts that we can't get till tomorrow, earliest."

They started making their way down to the parking lot where Rio's van was parked. "How are things going at the mansion? Aja said that the new girl had some problems?"

"It's…complicated," Jerrica hedged. "Kind of personal for her. The biggest problem she has now is that she seems terrified of Kara."

"Kara? Why?"

"You haven't run afoul of her temper have you?" Jerrica gave a humorless laugh.

"Ah, no. Why would Kara lose her temper with the new girl?"

"Like I said, complicated. I think the biggest issue now is that Kara just doesn't know how to deal with Laura's main problem, that being self-esteem."

"What do you mean?"

"Laura doesn't have any, and Kara seems honestly baffled by the way she responds to her."

"So…Laura is letting Kara's reaction to…whatever happened, make her miserable because…"

"Because she doesn't have a very high opinion of herself. Other people's opinions seem like everything to her." She shrugged. "Unless those opinions are positive and then she can't seem to believe them."

"Kara's not the most sensitive person in the world," Rio observed.

"She tries," Jerrica defended her friend. "She's just used to thinking only about herself and her girls." She shook her head. "No. That's not quite right. I guess I don't really understand her. She's suspicious of people she doesn't know and kind of slow to trust. Guess I can't blame her, given what I know of her life, but since she's joined the Holograms she's been getting closer to being like part of the family."

"She and Kimber get along well, and I didn't see that coming," Rio allowed.

"Neither did I," Jerrica admitted. "It's a nice surprise, though, and she's proven to be very loyal to those she calls friends," she added after a moment.

"What are you going to do about Laura Holloway?" Rio asked, getting back to the original topic.

"Kimber said she'd talk to Kara about it. I think Kara will listen to her."

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"Thanks for doing this, Kara."

"Not a problem, Cheyna," Kara answered a bit uncomfortably as she stood in the other woman's studio in her underwear.

"I just need to try a few things against your skin tone." Cheyna approached with a length of forest green cloth. She draped it over Kara's shoulders and arranged it to her liking. She made a few notes and then tried another length of fabric. "I'll have to leave to pick up the girls in about an hour," Kara reminded her.

"This won't take that long," Cheyna assured her. I have some ideas for new designs that need a living model to try out." She draped the fabric in different ways and had Kara pose and walk around the room while she took notes. "I understand the twins are going to try soccer," she commented.

"They're looking into it. I doubt they'll be able to do more than run around the field chasing the ball, but if they have fun, that's fine."

"Did you ever play soccer?"

"When I was around eight or nine. It was a good way to stay out of the orphanage and away from Berney. Can't say I really liked the game itself much, but it was good exercise."

"That's a depressing reason to take up sports," Cheyna observed swapping canary yellow for a darker shade and adding a blue length tied like a sash. Stepping back, she considered the results.

"I don't think these colors work for me," Kara commented, looking at the mirror to her left.

"Trust me. I think this could work for you. Fashion is…" She hesitated.

"Not my area of expertise?" Kara finished; then shrugged. "I always had more practical criteria and frugality is a hard habit to break, even now that I've got money coming in."

"I can understand that," Cheyna nodded. "Still going to try to get you to upgrade your wardrobe," she added with a smile.

"That bad?"

"Your choices for stage clothes are fine. You've got good if conservative tastes, but there's no reasons look like you dress from the bargain bin the rest of the time. Shopping trip tomorrow?"

"I'm game, as long as I'm within my budget."

"We'll do what we can," she promised, rolling her eyes, having suspicions about the nature and size of Kara's budget.

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"Was this the project you were working on with Rio?" Kara asked, noting her partially disassembled engine and the blue-haired woman with the toolbox.

"No. We need a few parts to continue with that," Aja answered, making an adjustment to something she hadn't removed. "Yesterday, though, I noticed that high pitched noise from the engine."

"Last mechanic I spoke to said he couldn't do anything until he could reproduce it," Kara nodded. "You know what it is?"

"Mm-hmm," the Chinese woman replied leaning over the engine. "One of your belts just needs adjustment. Have it fixed in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Kara said sincerely. She hadn't been looking forward to the mechanic's bill for searching for and hopefully fixing the intermittent noise. Aja, Kara had learned, tinkered with machines for fun. She kept the roadster running smoothly and helped Rio with various technical projects he took on. Fortunately, this was her idea of fun.

"You're picking up the twins and Mary-Anne, right?"

"That's right."

"Could you make a few side-trips on the way back?"

"I suppose. What do you need?"

"Just pick up a package at the Radio Shack on Crestway. I'm expecting a special order, and it's a couple of blocks from the soccer field." She paused to make an adjustment. "The pharmacy is about a mile from there. Chrissie's prescription should be ready by now."

"Okay," Kara agreed amicably, wondering if that was one of the reasons Aja was fixing the car. It was possible, she allowed, but unlikely. Such a trade of services wouldn't have occurred to the other woman. "Is that it?" Aja listed two more minor errands in the area, and Kara readily agreed.

"What exactly are you and Rio working on, anyway?" she asked curiously.

"Rio wants to build a synthesizer from scratch. Right now, we're just mapping out the basics of a new design and trying some ideas." She made a final adjustment and straightened up. "That's it. Now I just need to get everything back in place and you're good to go." She began replacing engine parts with the ease of long practice. "You meeting Jo for dinner?"

"Not this week. There was some kind of darkroom accident and she's going to be busy." Kara had been looking forward to it, too, as had the twins. "What about you? What are you doing tonight?"

"Trade show downtown. Newest computer models and electronics. The last one I went to got interrupted," she said, referring to Kara's first encounter with Clash. "She glanced up with a grin. "I thought I'd leave the rest of you home this time." Kara snorted in amusement. "Give it a try," Aja gestured toward the car. I want to make sure everything runs right before you head off."

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Mary-Anne hopped out of the car and brought the seat forward so the twins could clamber out. The three were reviewing the soccer practice excitedly and talking about next week. Kata gathered that the twins had enjoyed themselves and wanted more. Good for them. Kara popped the trunk and retrieved the packages she'd been asked to pick up. She glanced at her watch as she sent the girls into the mansion. Laura Holloway should be home by now.

She saw the kids inside and safely off to clean up for dinner before delivering her various items. Then she headed for the room where Laura Holloway spent most of her time and knocked on the door. "Laura?"

"C-come in," a hesitant voice answered.

Kara opened the door and quietly entered the girl's room. "Can we talk?"