5. Kim Fu ("Will that be dressing or undressing, Ma'am?")

Wednesday, 5:12 PM.
William rolled to a stop at the curb in front of the apartment and got out of his car with a small bag from the market bakery. He cocked his ear as he heard a deep thumping coming from inside. He recognized it as the thundering bass beat of "Land of Confusion" by Genesis - an extended mix version of the song that he had downloaded from the Web and transfered to a CD some months ago. He then noted that his stereo, though powerful, was rarely pushed to these levels. He could feel a tingle through his hand when he put his key in the deadbolt as the guitar started to belt out chords.

He opened the door and cautiously looked in. The coffee table that was usually in front of the couch had been slid next to the bookcase and chair near the door. Kim was on the other side of the living room, dressed in her "mission clothes," with a bright green bandana folded into a headband tied on her head. She had unfolded the box from the pet shoppe flat, and taped it to a broom handle, leaning it against the wall. Kim had drawn the rudimentary outline of a human figure on it with a marker, and was now focusing karate moves at it, missing it by inches as the music roared through the apartment.

-I must've dreamed a thousand dreams-
-Been haunted by a million screams-
-I can hear the marching feet-
-They're moving into the street-

Kim swung several alternating punches at the figure, ending with a spin and extending her gloved fist in a backhand motion, punctuating it with a loud "HA!"

-Now did you read the news today-
-They say the danger's gone away-

Kim set herself and lunged her foot in the direction of the figure with three quick snap-kicks, stomach-head-stomach.

-But I can see the fire's still alight-
-Burning into the night-

Kim launched into the air, spinning and whipping her leg in a roundhouse kick at the head of the figure.

William had walked across the room to his wife. "KIM!" he tried to shout above the music. Kim reacted instantly, instinctively, whipping around and bringing up her left arm, her teeth gritted into an angry sneer and her eyes filled with fire from the intensity of her attack at the cardboard figure. William tried to block her swing, and even though not a full impact, her fist still found its mark, catching William on the cheek. His head snapped a bit to the left, and he staggered back a step in recoil from the punch.

Kim's expression immediately drained to one of shock. She grabbed the stereo remote from her pocket, stopping the CD. "Oh God!" she said in a panicked voice as she dropped the remote and quickly embraced her husband. "William, are you alright?" she spoke in a hurried tone. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I didn't know you were home!"

"The stereo stealthily masked my approach," said William, moving his hand over his face. "I think I'm okay. I didn't catch the full punch."

Kim continued to apologize while pulling off her gloves with her teeth. "I was sooo into my routine, I didn't know you had come in. When you yelled, I just reacted. Baby, I'm sooo sorry. I can't believe I hit you! Let me see," she said, sliding her hand to his, slowly pulling it away to look at his cheek. There was already a red mark, and a couple of scratches from the material of Kim's glove. "Ohh, God, that's going to bruise," Kim said, leading William to sit on the couch. "Let me get you a cloth and something to put on it."

Kim went into the kitchen, running warm water over one of the dishtowels and folding it. She got the disinfectant which was still on the counter of the nook, and returned to the living room, sitting next to William and gently dabbing disinfectant on his scratches. "Please tell me you're alright," she said, softly putting the moist towel against his wound. "Maybe we should get that checked out."

"Nooo, I'm okay," replied William. "Stings a little, is all...although, if I hadn't tried to block your swing, I might be in the middle of a little nap right now."

"Are you sure?" Kim said, still concerned. "You wouldn't just say you're okay to make me feel better, would you?"

"No...I'd tell you if it hurt that bad...really."

Kim managed a weak smile and sank against William, slipping her arms around him. "William," she said, "I hope you know that I would never...ever...raise my hand to you in anger."

William smiled. "I know, Kim," he said. He then pointed at her feet. "Does that include those, too?"

"Yes," she giggled a little, looking down, then tightening her hug.

"What were you doing?"

Kim perked her head. "Exercising!" she beamed. "I haven't worked out in like, forever...took me quite a while to work up to a good pace. I need to get back into a regimen. I've lost a little bit of my speed."

"If that wasn't 'full speed'..." he said, "Yow. How often were you doing this?"

"Three times a week," Kim said. "Not including correographing and no-contact sparring with Shego."

"Wow. You're even better at this than I realized," William said, taking Kim's hand into his and examining it.

"William--" replied Kim, "--I'm a red belt in Kempo Karate. That's only two steps away from a black belt."

William chuckled. "I'm glad you're on my side."

Kim smiled broadly. "Always," she said. "But I need to find a way to do full-contact workouts - or at least light contact." She pointed to the figure on the broom handle. "Cardboard Boy there is so not up to that."

William thought for a moment - then snapped his fingers. "I think there's a martial arts shop in the market," he said. "After your driving lesson Saturday, we'll stop by there and see if they have or can order one of those practice dummies."

Kim again embraced her husband. "Really? That would be great."

"And safer," William said, tapping his finger against his reddened cheek.

"Awwww," cooed Kim, moving up to lightly kiss his cheek. "I kiss aaallll better."

"In fact..." William said, moving to sit at the other end of the couch, and taking the phone book from the end table. He flipped through a couple pages and slid his finger down a row of names, stopping at one. "Here we go...Karate Depot - Brookings Market Square." He handed Kim the phone while reading her the number.

She dialed and waited. "Hello? Hi...I live in an apartment, and I need something for full-contact workouts...hm? Red belt in Kempo. I'd like something sturdy, yet easy enough to move out of the way when not in use. Oh?" She listened for a moment. "Hang on," she said, cupping the phone and turning to William. "They have one that would work out pretty well...but...it's $124."

"That's all?" William said, reaching for his wallet. "I thought they would be a lot more." He passed a credit card to Kim so she could read the numbers to the clerk.

Kim took the card and uncovered the phone. "Hello? Yes, that would be fine. Do you deliver? Great. I'm just down the street on Eastgate...2215...Kim...Hodge...Yes, a Visa...4-5-2-3..." William went into the kitchen for a glass of ice water. Kim was just finishing up the call when he returned. "Uh-huh...yes, I'll be here...thanks." She took a step and hung up the phone, then gave William the card. "It'll be here Friday," she smiled. "It was only a three-dollar charge to deliver it...the base is filled with sand to keep it stablized....and they threw that in for another dollar." She then wrapped her arms around William. "Thank you, baby."

William chuckled. "Heh. Anything is better than me being your practice dummy."

"Awwww," purred Kim, sliding closer. "You'll always be my favorite dummy," she smirked. She then stood. "Let me get a shower and fresh clothes real quick, and I'll make us a couple of yummy salads. I have lasagna in the oven," she said, starting for the bedroom. She opened the door and Angel ran halfway down the hall, stopping and looking back at Kim, mewing. "I put her in the bedroom so she wouldn't get hurt while I was working out."

William motioned to write on his hand. "Note to self - enter house through bedroom window when Kim is working out." Kim giggled and disappeared from the doorway to get a change of clothes.

6:36 PM.
William had changed into jeans and his black polo shirt while Kim was in the shower. She chose her black sweatpants and a turquoise "Bound Dreams" t-shirt that William had bought her some time ago. She had also pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She stood at the counter slicing a cucumber and several cherry tomatoes to put into their salads, while William sat in the tall chair on the kitchen side of the nook. The aroma of the lasagna in the oven was now beginning to flirt with both their noses.

"Italian?" Kim asked as she retrieved the dressings from the refrigerator.

"As per usual," smiled William.

Kim opened the bottle and poured a small stream of the dressing back and forth over William's salad, punctuating the end with a small dip of the bottle. She replaced the cap and reached for her Thousand Island. She tipped her bottle, and a little bit of dressing dribbled out, followed by a series of drops. "Oh nooo," she said, a bit dejected, "I'm out of my salad dressing." She replaced the cap on her bottle and brought it and the two salad bowls to the nook, placing the bottle on the counter upside-down. "Maybe I can get enough out of it to get by this time," she said, handing William his bowl.

"I can run down to the grocer," William offered. "They're open until 7."

"No, that's okay," replied Kim. "I knew I was making salads tonight. I should have checked and called you at work. This will be a good lesson to do that next time." She dabbed a slice of cucumber into the bit of dressing in her bowl and smiled at William, motioning him to eat.

William had nearly finished his salad when Kim tried her bottle of dressing again. She held it over her bowl and unscrewed the lid. A rich glob of dressing plopped onto the lettuce, followed by several smaller globs. Kim grinned at her husband. "This is more like it," she said, readying her fork.

-ding-

Kim let her fork drop against her bowl. "Urrgghh," she moaned. "What timing." She rose and went to the stove, turning it off and grabbing a pot holder from the counter. She opened the oven and reached in, pulling out the glass dish and setting it on the stove, and inhaling deeply while inspecting it.

"That just couldn't smell more yummy," commented William as the full aroma of the pasta caressed his nose.

"I'll take that to mean that you're ready to try some," Kim said while getting two plates from the cupboard. She got a spatula from the utensil drawer, cut and scooped a square of the pasta onto each plate, and brought them to the nook. She sat and resumed eating her salad. "I'd like your honest opinion. I want to see if you can tell the difference."

William sank his fork into the lasagna and brought a bite to his mouth. The rich mix of sauce, spices and pasta immediately brought a smile to his face. "Dee-licious as always," he said, slicing another bite. "But...what difference is there?"

Kim grinned proudly. "I was really in the mood for lasagna...but we didn't have any ricotta cheese...so I improvised, and used drained cottage cheese instead. I got the idea from a food site."

"My innovative wife," beamed William, taking another bite. "I really can't tell the difference."

"I was hoping it would at least be edible. When I was preparing it, I kept thinking it was going to turn out bad, and I would have to call it 'lasag-not'." She then cut a corner and tried it herself. "Mmmm, this is good. Chalk one up for me."

8:03 PM.
Kim put the remaining lasagna into a container and into the freezer to keep while William washed the dishes. He then took a sponge and towel to wipe down the nook while Kim worked on drying the dishes and putting them away. William joined her effort, storing as she dried.

"Done and done," said Kim as she handed the last of the clean silverware to her husband, and leaned to gently kiss his bruised cheek while he put two forks into the utensil drawer. "Is that feeling any better?"

William nodded. "I barely feel it now...how's it look?"

"Like a scratchy bruise," said Kim, looking down and folding her hands together. "I don't mean to sound...insensitive or anything, but...what are you going to tell people at work when they ask about it?"

"I've already thought of that," replied William, removing the dishtowel from Kim's shoulder and placing it on a hook near the stove. "I'll just tell them I ran into the corner of a wall--"

Kim glanced up at him -

"--while you were chasing me with a fork."

Kim's eyes became very wide, her jaw dropping. "William!" she said, giving him a gentle shove and smacking his upper arm. "So not! Don't you dare make people think I'm evil like that. The first part works, but leave off the fork."

"Okay," smirked William. "A big spoon then."

"Nooo!"

William began to chuckle, moving backward. "A spatula?"

"Not!" giggled Kim, lightly slapping his arm again.

Angel had padded into the kitchen during this. William scooped her up, facing her toward Kim. "An attack cat," he said in a dramatic voice, closing one eye as if to aim the kitten. "Yeah, that's it. You were chasing me with a loaded attack cat, well-versed in Feline Fu, possessing a hair trigger and a cobra's speed!" Kim burst into laughter as he lifted one of Angel's front paws and swiped it in Kim's direction with a high-pitched "Me-yawwwww."

"I'll buy that one," she said, sliding Angel into her arms, still giggling and turning around, slipping backward into William's embrace with a soft moan as his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Kim? Is that you or Angel purring?"

"Mmmm-hmmmm," she replied, letting Angel down to the floor, and nuzzling her shoulders against William's chest.

William bent his head, kissing the top of Kim's head. "I have something to show you."

"Mmmm, I hope so, Mr. Hodge," Kim cooed under her breath while moving her hands behind her, her palms caressing his stomach just above his belt. "Dessert...?"

"Nooo," he said. "It's work-related."

"Noooonnnnerrrr," Kim settled further back against him.

"It's after 8 in the evening," smiled WIlliam.

"Nnnniiighhtcaaap..." she purred. Kim then pushed slightly away and turned to face her husband, placing her hands on his hips, her expression dropping into that "puppy dog pout." She sighed, "You're supposed to please - not tease."

"Heh," William smirked. "I've noticed that you've been quite...frisky...ever since we've gotten back from France. I mean, even more than usual. It's almost like...a form of 'Celler Lust' or something."

Kim trailed a finger over William's chest, smiling. "Don't tell me you're complaining, Mr. Hodge."

"No, no...just making note."

"Cellust," giggled Kim. "What were you going to show me?"

"Just some basic procedures from work. I left them in the car. I'll be right back...Frisky Girl." William brought his keys from his pocket and turned for the front door, smirking.

Kim picked one of Angel's dishes from the floor and went to the refrigerator, pouring her a little milk. She thought about William's comment, wondering if her increased desire for her husband was bothering him. After all, she thought, it was difficult to ignore how William never failed to fulfill her every passionate desire. It was almost as if he had attained some kind of sensual road map of her body. There were "attractions" William found on that map even she didn't know about. Even from "The Awakening" - the night they first professed their feelings toward each other - when Celler and Flesher environments meshed in a way they never had before - even from that first kiss, Kim knew the depth of William's attentiveness and intensity toward her.

She had kissed other Cellers before - but a single kiss from WIlliam proved that food was not the only thing different between the two environments. She had felt the intense torrent of his kiss course through her body as if she had dived into a hot spring. She had felt the heat of his touch sear trails across her flesh as they explored and celebrated the undiscovered country that was their passion. Even now, after the many months they had shared life and love, William's touch still had that same intense, searing effect on Kim as it had the very first time.

Kim crouched, setting the bowl down for Angel and she padded over to it in a trot. She slowly stroked the kitten between the shoulder blades as William returned from the car with a folder in hand. He waited at the doorway to the kitchen, motioning Kim to join him. She walked over, slipped her arm around William's waist, and they went to the bedroom, where William pulled out the chair for Kim to sit at the desk. "What are we doing?" she asked.

"Marcy thought it would be a good idea if I gave you a peek at what you'll be doing," William said, sitting on the end of the bed, just over Kim's right shoulder.

"Oooo-kayy," Kim sighed, "more special treatment."

"Not really," he replied. "What we're going to go over is exactly the same material you'll be exposed to on your first day of training...and it's not the first time someone has gotten the edge of...umm...'pre-training training'."

Kim's head dropped slightly. "It just seems a little...remedial." she said.

William placed his hand gently on Kim's shoulder and smiled. "Do I seem 'remedial'?"

Kim's head snapped up, turning toward her husband. "So not! You're a wizard at this. I've watched you work."

William smiled and motioned his hand toward the folder he had placed on the desk. Kim's eyes widened. "You? Really?"

"By Marcy herself."

Kim leaned to her husband for a kiss. Then her expression changed to a slight wicked smile as she turned back to the computer, readying her hands on the keyboard. "Show me," she said.

"Okay," William brightened, moving a little closer to the desk. "You know how I log in from home...DOS session, telnet to 213.87.45.112...then it asks for username and password." Kim echoed William's directions nearly instantly, and the silverish-blue Remote Login screen came up. "I changed my password a while back," he said. She entered his username at the prompt - "WHodge" - and waited.

"It will be about a week before they set up your username," continued William. "You'll have a temporary login in the meantime. Just remember that your password is case-sensitive. Mine is '3sNPbb'."

Kim turned and raised an eyebrow, smirking. "That almost looks like an acronym for something..."

"Yes, dear," William laughed softly, "the '3' represents a backward 'E'."

"Ever So Not Punny Backgammon Boy," said Kim, erupting into giggles as she entered the password.

"Okay, here we are," William said as the Station Login screen appeared. "click on the button that says 'Claims and Rec,' and use the same username and password." Kim did so, and several options popped up on the screen. William pointed to "Entry and Process" and Kim clicked on it. A form came up with several blank fields.

William opened the folder and pulled out a pink piece of paper, setting it on the desk. "This is a standard claim form. The insurance company sends it to the policy holder...they fill out the top section with all their personal information...then they send it to the hospital or doctor, and they fill out the rest and send it to us for processing."

Kim looked the paper over. "How much of this is entered?" she asked.

William pointed to the first field on the screen in the upper-left corner. "First thing you do is enter the policy number. If the policy holder wrote it down right and it's not a new policy, the rest of their information will fill automatically. If you're lucky, nothing will have changed. If it has, you go to the proper field and update it with the information the policy holder wrote on the form."

"And if it's new?"

"We have a lag of about three months between the time a policy is written and when the information gets into the system," William said. "The restructuring will try to reduce that time. We'll be either transferring and/or hiring about 60 people who will do nothing but enter new policies into the system. It should cut the time down to a couple weeks. As it is now, if the system doesn't recognize the policy number, you have to enter all their personal information."

Kim looked on the form for the policy number - then clicked on the proper field and entered it. The screen froze for a second - then the fields filled with information. "Cool," she remarked, beginning to check the screen against the form.

William smiled at his wife. "Have you done this before? That's exactly the first thing you do with every claim - check the personal info against what's in the system."

"Just common sense," she replied with a smile of her own. "If we're supposed to update any personal info, it makes sense to check what's on the form for any changes."

William pointed to a field. "This tells you when the policy was initiated," he said. "And it looks like Mr....Darren Schmidlap from Charleston, South Carolina has had this policy for about four years." He then pointed to another field in the upper-right corner. "This is the claim number. It's assigned by the system, and you write it on the form. It's to track the claim's status as it goes through the system, in case it has to be referred to later, like if the policy holder calls his district office with any questions or discrepancies."

Kim beamed. "I love this," she said. She copied the claim number to the form as William explained it. "The first part - 'MSC' - is the state code. The next part - '413' - is the district code - then the claim number itself...and the 'WH' on the end shows that you entered the claim for processing. That will be 'KH' when you get your login."

Kim thought for a second and smirked. "So since this is under your name, I could enter wrong information, and it would go on your record?"

"Not while I'm sitting here, you couldn't," chuckled William. "Even though these are actual claims, they're already marked as 'training'. I'll turn them in in the morning, and they'll be checked and then released from training status. So if you do that, it'll go on yoouur record, not mine." He punctuated this by pointing at Kim, wiggling his finger.

"So not," Kim giggled. "Accuracy is key."

"You got that right," he replied. "And you're all over that."

Kim started to look at the bottom half of the form. "That's the doctor's info and notes...his diagnosis and/or treatment." William explained.

"And all this gets entered?"

"Every bit of it," William said. "Press F8." Kim did and the screen changed to a new series of empty fields. William pointed to a few of them. "Here goes the doctor's name, the hospital he works in and so forth." Kim began entering that information. William pointed to a field further down the screen. "This is the Incident Code," he said. "The billing clerk at the doctor's office writes this code on the form, and you enter it here." He pointed to the form. "In this case, they put 'FT." Kim entered the letters into the field, and it automatically filled further to read "FT - Foot Trauma."

William then pointed to a large field near the bottom of the screen. "Here is where you enter the doctor's notes on diagnosis and treatment, and any prescriptions he orders for the policy holder." Kim's set her eyes on the form and her fingers flew over the keys as she entered the notes.

"Now you turn into a bit of a detective," William said. "This is a bit of the 'Reconciliation' part of Claims and Rec. You read over the doctor's notes to see if they agree with the Incident Code they put down." He scanned over the notes. "Seems that Mr. Schmidlap is a diabetic, and has developed an open sore on his right heel...in this case, I'd say the notes and the IC match."

"And if they don't?"

"Then you fill out a Discrepancy Form with a short description of the discrepancy...you paper clip that to the claim form and put it in your Discrepancy Box...someone comes around every couple of hours, picks them up and takes them to Discrepancy. There is a whole department where people do nothing but call doctor's offices and try to verify and correct the claims so they can be processed. Sometimes, you can correct the code yourself, but they kind of frown on that if you're new."

"I'll bet there are tons of these codes," said Kim.

William reached for an inch-thick book from the shelf over the desk and opened it, handing it to Kim. "Here you go," he said.

Kim flipped through page after page of codes and sub-codes. "Yikes," she frowned.

"Don't let this intimidate you...and don't even worry about memorizing any of them. It's actually the job of the clerk in the doctor's office to assign the correct code." Kim gave the book back to William and he replaced it on the shelf. "There are people who have been processing claims for over two years, and they only know a small fraction of the codes by memory. Even I don't know that many of them. But that book is in alphabetical order, and cross-referenced...so they're pretty easy to look up, if you have to. Everyone has one at their desk...but even at that, don't change a claim before you check with your supervisor."

"My desk," Kim beamed.

William then sat back a bit. "Okay, KIM," he said, "Press F8 again." The screen reverted back to the policy holder information. "If you're satisfied that everything is accurate, click on the 'Init' button at the top of the screen." She gave everything one last lookover - then clicked on the button. Another screen came up, fields blank. "Congratulations, Mrs. Hodge," he smiled. "You have just processed your first claim. Mr. Schmidlap thanks you."

Kim spun in the chair. "Viva me!" she exclaimed, rising and sitting in William's lap, giving him a long kiss. "What happens to the claim now?"

"The rest is computed by the system," William said. "It looks at his policy and history, if he has one, checks the Incident Code against his policy to see if the claim can be covered, checks his actuarial code which was set up when he bought the policy, and assigns a 'result code' - Pay, Deny, or Arbitration."

William motioned toward the desk. "Want to do another one?" he asked.

"Not right now," Kim replied. I have the basic idea. I'll save that for next week." She rose from William's lap and retrieved the backgammon set which was on the floor, leaning against the desk. "Right now, I want to try a new game," she said, sliding up the bed.

"New?"

"Mmm-hmmm," nodded Kim, her face spreading into a mischievous grin. "Strip Backgammon....and I don't plan on losing."

to be continued...