Twenty Eight

"I'll be right in." Jade gave Cat a wave, as she ducked into the bathroom. Fortunately, it was empty, so she spent a moment just twitching at her clothes, and giving herself dire looks in the mirror. She was wearing the gunmetal gray suit today, with a black silk shirt, the only splash of color the pin Tori had gotten her down on the boardwalk.

Okay, Jade Giana. Her jaw muscle twitched. They're all in there, waiting on you. This isn't an executive committee meeting anymore. This is a staff meeting. They're your staff now.

You are their leader.

Jade winced, and her face wrinkled up into a grimace. Ugh. The slightly widened blue eyes gazed back at her mournfully. I'm too young for this. With a sigh, she reached up and ran her fingers through her dark hair, arranging it in some kind of order, then she took a deep breath, and let it out, settling the neatly pressed fabric over her shoulders. Okay. How do we do the 'tude..

Grumpy? Casual? Bitchy? Annoyed? Hey… I could say I was PMSing. She considered that for a moment, then discarded the idea. Nah. They'd never be able to tell the difference.

She lifted a brow experimentally. How about…. She let a sardonic grin edge across her face, to join the brow. Amused. Okay, I can do amused. I'll just think of them all in their underwear.

The grin widened. And I've seen some of them like that, too. With one last look, she left the bathroom and headed into the executive conference center, where the rest of the upper management staff was waiting.

"Where in the hell is she?" Rob whispered, nudging Cat with one knee.

The Personnel VP glanced at him. "She'll be here in a minute.. would you calm down?" she whispered back, eyeing the restless group. Jose and Elle were seated next to each other, with frosty looks on, and the rest of the staff was a mixture of excited, annoyed, scared, or just plain bored.

The door opened, and everyone stopped talking, as Jade let herself in. All eyes fastened on their new CIO, who strode across the room with a smooth, powerful stride, and took her end chair in a blizzard of self-confidence that simply rolled down the table at them.

In silence, Jade let her icy blue gaze go from face to face, then a slow, lazy, amused grin pulled her lips upward just slightly. "Morning." Her low, richly toned voice echoed slightly in the silence. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Everyone swallowed, Cat noted, astounded at the amount and quality of sheer presence Jade could produce when she was in the mood to.

"For… obvious… reasons.. we didn't have a meeting last week." Jade put her fingertips on the table and leaned on them slightly, the fabric of her jacket tensing across her shoulders. "And since I've got crap piled up on my desk six feet tall, this is going to be a short one."

Silence.

"First item on the agenda." The dark-haired woman gazed down the table at them. "Every department gets a fifteen percent operating budget cut. Effective today."

Jaws dropped.

Jade waited.

"Hold on a god damned minute." Jose stood up. "What in the hell, Jade?"

A chorus of protest rose after him, belatedly courageous once the Sales VP had broken ice, so to speak.

Jade waited. Silently. Blue eyes roving from face to face, her attitude one of quiet menace.

The voices trailed off until they were left again in uneasy silence.

"I'm going to take that budget, and duplicate the networking hub." Jade continued as if nothing had been said. "Because, let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I am not spending another night out freezing my ass off in Colorado jury-rigging some god damned patch panel to run this company off of."

Rob chewed on his pencil. "Budgets are already figured for the quarter, Jade." He commented quietly.

"Rework them." She answered back, inflexibly. "Or sell your damn desk chairs, I don't care, but I'm going to go ahead with the facilities regardless."

Jose was still standing. He put his hands on his hips. "I think we should consider the options, here Jade.. and I.."

She pointed at him. "This... is.. .not… a ..committee." Each word was spoken sharply, with fierce enunciation. "There are no options."

Silence. Jade watched them. "All right, we're going to go around the table, you bring up what you think you need to, but be quick about it. I've got a ton of things to do." She finally sat down and took a sip of water from the glass in front of her, then leaned back and gazed at Rob, who was closest to her. A brow lifted at him.

Impudently, he poked the very tip of his tongue out, where only she could see it. "Congratulations, my friend."

Her eyes twinkled soberly at him, the faintest hint of a grin pulling at the corners of her mouth. "Thank you."

"I have some good news." Rob went on. "The retirement fund had an investment in a group of technicals, and we made a killing last week. We're thirty percent over expectations in the fund."

Murmurs went around the room.

"Nice," Jade commented. "Who picked those?"

Rob named one of his assistants. "Damn, good job of analyzing." He added. "I put a commendation in his file."

"Put a little commendation in his paycheck," Jade suggested wryly. "Before Merril Lynch steals him."

A faint, nervous chuckle skittled across the table. "That it for you?" Jade inquired.

Rob nodded, then turned, to where Cat was seated next to him. "Next?"

They went around the room, receiving clipped replies from Jose and nothing from Elle, and everyone left when she closed the meeting, save Rob and Cat. Jade waited for the door to close, then glanced at them. "So."

Rob leaned on his elbows. "That was different." He commented. "Giving notice that your reign is not going to be business as usual, my friend?"

"Give me a break." Jade snorted, leaning back and allowing herself to relax from the almost painful tension of the meeting. Her entire body ached from it, and she exhaled in relief. "You know it won't last… next week they'll all be in here bitching again."

Cat laughed softly. "I don't know about that, Jade… you made quite an impression… you have a very powerful presence, you know."

Jade gave her a wry grimace. "Well, I don't hold out a lot of hope.. but at least we didn't spend five hours going over crap we've been through for the last two years." She sighed and studied her pen, which she turned over and over in her fingers. "I'm going to need to pull a project team on that new facility."

Cat nodded. "I gathered… Do you want to put in a new orgid for you? We can slot them in there, and charge them off against the operating budget."

"Sounds good." Jade agreed mildly. "Well, I've got two phone conferences, four client briefings, and a major proposal to review, so… you two going to be around later? Maybe we can all have dinner or something."

Rob and Cat exchanged looks. "I hear you know a good Thai restaurant down on The Warf.. sound good?" Cat asked. "We can save all our chitchat for there… will you be able to unbury Tori from her desk by then?"

Jade chuckled. "Yeah... I think so." She caught their eyes and realized where they were looking. Just barely keeping herself from sticking her hands in her pockets, she merely flexed her fingers instead. "I'm not going to fill my position right away."

Silence, as they digested that. "Good idea." Cat nodded approvingly. "You slowly going to shift responsibilities to Tori?"

"Yes."

"Smart." Rob nodded also. "Give everyone a chance to see what she can do."

Silence again. Cat cleared her throat gently. "Are you going to um... " She considered, fishing for a way to ask delicately. "Change your beneficiary information in CAS?"

Jade almost laughed, as she kept her eyes on her pen. "Yeeahh.. it looks like it." She admitted, glancing up to see a twinkle in Cat's eyes. "Talk about an obscure way of asking."

Rob chuckled. "C'mon, Cat.. we've got things to do, and so does the grand poobah, here… let's be getting a move on." He stood, then leaned over and clapped Jade on the shoulder. "Good job, Jade."

"Likewise," Cat added, as they pushed their chairs into place. "I think it's going to turn out for the best for everyone. "

Jade felt her pager go off, as she watched them leave, then she sighed, looking around the empty conference room. "I sure hope so." She stood and went to the phone nearby and rang the office. "Mari.. what's up?"

"Ah.. Jade… I was not going to bother you.. but it has been some time now, and I… that Michelle Graver person is here."

"Oh." Jade winced. "Great… is she down there waiting? I'll come down.. we're done here."

"Aie.. no.. no, Jade.. she came a half an hour ago.. she was upset at something, but Tori took her away to fix things."

Tori? Oh. Great. Jade tried to remember if she had a first aid kit in her office. "Um… did she say where they were going?"

"No.. but I think they were in her office." Mariela supplied helpfully. "Is good I called you? I don't like that woman, Jade.. she is very sneaky looking."

Yeah. "Okay.. yeah, that was good, Mari... I'll take care of it." Jade sighed. "Talk to you later." She hung up, then grabbed her portfolio and headed purposefully out the door.

Tori nibbled her lip in thought, then added a couple of lines to her email, clicking on the send once she'd reread it for the fifth or sixth time. She checked her watch, and paused, wondering how Jade's meeting was going, before she punched a few numbers on the speakerphone. "Hi, Mari?"

"Sim.. sim... um momento, senhora.. " The secretary sounded harried, and Tori could hear an angry voice in the background.

A vaguely familiar voice. "Mariela, what's going on?"

"Ah… we have a Ms. Graver here, she is looking to be speaking with Jade, but I am telling her she is in a meeting," Mariela answered. "Is problems, I think."

Tori drummed her fingers on her desk. Michelle Graver, huh? A grim smile crossed the brunette woman's face. "Let me see if I can help her, Mari.. bring her down here." She suggested. "Who knows how long Jade's going to be."

Mariela sounded very grateful. "Gracias, Vitoria.. we'll be right down." She hung up, leaving Tori to run a quick eye over her desk and straighten the stack of papers in her outbox with a push. Then she turned her monitor slightly and checked her reflection, trying on one of Jade's arched eyebrowed looks for size.

"Uck. I can't do that." She chuckled a little. "I look too weird." A gentle tug on her sleeves got her shirt straight, then she took a breath and settled herself, as a soft knock came on the door. "C'mon in."

Mariela opened the door and entered, holding it for Michelle Graver to enter behind her. The short Disney executive brushed past her, and stalked across the carpet, tossing a folder down on Tori's desk. "I doubt you can help."

Tori held her eyes for a moment, then she pulled the folder towards her and flipped it open. "Please, have a seat." She murmured, as she studied the contents. "Mari, here are the reports so far.. and the project Jade was working on." She reached out and lifted the stack of papers and offered them. "I think she wanted these requisitions cleared before lunchtime."

"Si." Mariela took the stack. "We are making special orders today for lunch…the Chinese food... you want?"

Tori paused. "Sure…. Yeah, that would be great. "She pulled a paper out and keyed up one of her sessions. "Hang on a minute.. I need to request these in real time." She rattled her keys, then turned. "Um… I'll take a beef with snow peas, and you can order Jade a Szechwan shrimp." She took a guilty bit of satisfaction in saying that while Michelle was sitting there, and she didn't miss the narrowing of those little beady eyes.

"Is good." Mariela scribbled a note, then left, abandoning a tense silence behind her.

Tori returned her attention to the screen. "This utilization report shows you're losing packets."

Michelle clapped her hands twice. "Very good." She remarked sarcastically. "I'm impressed.. did she train you on all the little blinking lights, or just the most important ones?"

Tori felt an insidious urge to make an inappropriate gesture and stifled it. "No.. actually, I learned that in college." She answered the question at face value. "Have you made any changes to your internal network?" She asked, politely.

"No," Michelle answered. "It's not on our end, and my people have been complaining about it for two weeks, and nothing's been done. I want it cleared up, or you can tell your … boss… the next contact will be from our legal department to terminate the contract."

Briefly, Tori wondered why Michelle had found it necessary to fly all the way from Orlando to tell her that, then figured it was probably just an excuse. "Hold on." She started a routine running, watching the results, and ignoring the impatient woman across the desk.

No matter what I do here, she still not gonna walk out of here happy.. and it's mostly my fault. Well, not directly, but still. The brunette thought hoping she was wrong.

Well, Tori… if you're going to even think about doing Jade's job, you better start here. She watched a gauge, then dialed a number. "Sinjin?"

"Yessup?" The ever-present sound of rattling keys came through clearly. "And what can I do for you, Ms. T?"

"Um… " She gave him a circuit number. "Can you sniff that for me, please… they're losing one out of every three or four packets."

"Sure." Sinjin busied himself for a moment. "Okay.. it'll take about ten minutes to run the analyzer over it. I'll get back to you."

"Thanks." Ten minutes. Ho boy. She glanced up, meeting Michelle's eyes. "Would you like some coffee?"

"I'd like my problem solved." The executive answered shortly.

"I'm working on that," Tori told her. "And if you don't mind, could I have the name of the person your group talked to in support? I'd like to follow up to find out why this wasn't handled."

"You should have a record of that," Michelle replied. "It's not my job to keep track of your people."

Tori checked a screen. "Mm.. that's true, but we don't have a record of anyone calling in from your operations center…and I'd really like to check on what happened." She waited, but Michelle didn't answer her. "Look, Ms. Graver.. you obviously came here for some answers, and I'd like to give them to you, but I need some help."

"And I don't want excuses.. just fix the problem." The other woman answered. "I'm not here to help you fix your internal screw-ups."

Stupid, stuck-up, obnoxious bitch. "Okay." Tori reviewed the data, then typed in a request and waited for it to come back. You're just jealous because Jade won't give you the time of day, arentcha? Not even way back when, before we were even that close. Nyah nyah. She punched a number into the phone and waited. "Hello, this is Tori Vega in Operations… can I speak with a supervisor, please?"

A moment of rustling, then a voice. "Yes, ma'am?"

"I need to know who there's been troubleshooting with the Disney Orlando account." She requested quietly.

Keys rattled. "Um… there's no record of them calling in, ma'am."

"I know," Tori replied. "But they say they have, so I need to know who's handling the problem they reported."

The man sounded confused. "Okay.. I'll get the leads to ask each tech… can I call you back?"

"Sure." Tori hung up the phone, then folded her hands on her desk, and regarded Michelle in pensive silence. "You sure you wouldn't like some coffee?"

Graver didn't answer at once. She stood, and wandered around the office instead, peering out Tori's window at the placid Bay, then she turned and leaned her back against it, studying the back of Tori's head.

It took everything she had not to turn around, but she did it, examining the next thing in her inbox instead.

"You're not just a bit of good-looking fluff, are you?" Michelle finally asked, in a speculative voice.

Now she turned, and crossed her legs, leaning on the arm of her chair. "I'm not sure I understand the question." She replied. "I'm here to do a job, Ms. Graver…not for any other reason."

The shorter woman laughed. "Oh, come on now… you're not going to deny it at this late stage, are you? Your whole little building here is talking about you and your boss, honey… wake up."

Tori stood up and walked over, making the most of her two-inch height advantage, a complete luxury for her. "I'm not denying anything." She replied softly. "But my relationship with Jade has no bearing on whether or not I can do my job." She paused. "And while we're at it, don't you think you'd better take a look at your own motives, Ms. Graver?" She'd caught the woman off guard, she could see. Good. "You know, when I met you, that first time, I really admired you, because I saw how you looked past the surface bullshit in those meetings, and I appreciated how you made your decisions based on what was good for your company, not on a personal agenda."

The gray eyes watched her warily. "Thank you. I do try to do that." She replied, a little uncertainly. "I just don't like to be jerked around." A pause. "So to speak."

Tori mentally flipped a coin and took the plunge. "You weren't being jerked around." She replied quietly. "We were just starting to become friends, in Orlando… she was my boss, nothing more than that."

Michelle's brows lifted. "You're joking…. Honey, have you seen those pictures?"

Tori folded her arms. "Yeah, I have… and I look at them and it seems so obvious.. but it wasn't obvious to me." She pursed her lips. "And I think Jade was going along business as usual, except she got to a certain point and she just couldn't go any further, because of me. Because she didn't want me to think badly of her. " She looked up "Don't hate her for that."

Now, Michelle looked a little amused. "You poor kid." She shook her head slowly. "You had no idea what you were getting into, did you?"

Tori glanced at the carpet. "Not really, no." She replied, frankly. "But I don't regret a minute of it." She lifted her eyes and gave Michelle a direct look. "And to answer your original question, no. I'm not just a piece of fluff. I'm a professional who does this for a living, I didn't get this job by sleeping with Jade."

"I see," Michelle drawled. "Well, well."

The phone beeped, and Tori crossed back over to it, hitting the answer button and trying not to let her shaking hands show. "Yes?"

"Port's crapping out," Sinjin replied succinctly.

"Thanks." Tori hung up and dialed the networking office. "John, here' s a router name... "She rattled it off. "Serial port 0 is intermittently bad.. can you hot-swap it, please?"

"Yes, Ms. Vega.. we can do that. " The man answered. "We're still researching that trouble call for you.. should have an answer back shortly."

"Thanks… bye." Tori hung up, then turned to face Michelle. "That should solve your problem." She was glad they'd isolated it, but really, really ticked off that she'd had to do it.. it was a basic step anyone should have done in the networking group. Someone was going to hear about it, that was for sure. "Sorry, you had to bring it to this level."

"I'm not." The older woman chuckled, then shook her head. "Sometimes it's good just to clear the air." She sauntered over and picked up her folder, then she slapped Tori lightly on the shoulder with it. "And don't bother trying to track down that trouble call… there wasn't one."

Tori blinked at her. "What?"

"We thought it was us," Michelle told her cheerfully. "Thanks, kid." She strolled out, leaving Tori standing there with her jaw slack.

"Son of a bitch." She exhaled, sitting down hard in her seat. "You little wiener schnitzel."

Pace pace pace.

Jade paused near the far wall and regarded the credenza with an evil look. Even the pretty flowers didn't help her mood.

Pace, pace pace.

Now she was on the near wall, and contemplating the closed door for the hundredth time.

Pace, pace, pace.

Her initial charge had led her right up to Tori's door, and she'd actually had her hand on the knob, ready to fling the door open and barrel in, when her conscience had stopped her cold.

Tori was supposed to be thinking about doing her former job. What message would her rushing in there like some god damned half-assed knight in frigging rusted armor send?

That she didn't trust Tori, that's what. That she figured she couldn't handle one measly little Michelle Graver, without big, bad Jade coming in and taking over.

Pace, pace, pace.

So she'd come back here, to her office, and decided to wait and see what happened. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten just how much she hated waiting for anything. "Guess I'm just an instant gratification kinda gal." She muttered to her reflection in the window. She'd tried to concentrate on her email but had found herself reading the same one six times, and that was a personnel advisory from Cat.

She sighed. Maybe I should go take a walk.

Pace, pace pace.

I am walking... it's not helping. She drummed her fingers on her thigh, curiosity almost driving her insane as she wondered what was going on down the hall. Damn it, Tori.. you've got sense enough to yell for help if you need it, right?

Right. Yeah, sure…

Pace, pace, pace.

What if Michelle was making a play for her? Jade stopped in her tracks, and pressed her fingertips against the glass of the window, her breathing suddenly tight. What if Tori….She shut the thought down savagely. Don't be stupid, Jade. Don't start that crap. Don't even insult her by thinking it. She loves you. Jade let her head rest briefly against the sun-warmed glass. Just go over there and sit down before you drive yourself crazy.

But she didn't move. Instead, she just watched the waves for a few minutes, letting the calm blue of the sea soothe her.

Until her hearing picked up a soft, rhythmic footfall in the back corridor. About damn time. She cursed, bounding across the room and getting into her chair moments before the gentle knock came. She took a deep breath, and leaned her chin on her fist, picking up a report at random and studying it. "C'mon in."

The door opened, and Tori entered. "Hey."

Jade forced herself to wait a few seconds before she looked up, drinking in the sight of her lover with quiet relief. "Hey, yourself." Tori appeared calm, and unflustered, definitely a good sign.

The brunette woman crossed to her desk, and took her favorite perch on the corner, laying a hand flat on the wooden surface and leaning on it. "I ordered you lunch… Mari's doing a Chinese run."

"Mm.. wondered where she went." Jade mused, putting her report down and giving Tori a smile. "Thanks."

Tori smiled back. "Anytime… listen, Michelle Graver was here."

Jade nodded. "I know... Mariela told me." She replied casually. "But she said you were handling her so I figured it was under control."

"Oh." Tori felt a quick jolt of surprised pride. "Well.. yeah, it was." She confirmed. "I mean.. she had a problem, but I figured it out, and we got it fixed, so.. everything's great." She gave a satisfied sigh. "I was worrying about dealing with her a little.. but things turned out … okay.. and it all um.. it's fine now."

Jade smiled back. "Good job." She patted Tori's' knee. "I knew you could handle her."

Tori nodded a little, folding her arms across her chest. "Yeah.. it was.. it felt good." She confessed. "And I think we sort of came to an understanding… maybe she won't be so nasty now."

A dark brow lifted. "Really?"

"Yeah... I talked things out with her.. straightened out a few misconceptions she had." Tori replied.

"You did?" Jade asked, curiously. "Like what?"

"Uh." The brunette woman scratched her jaw. "Well, that whole Orlando thing.. you know." She replied offhandedly.

"Oh.. right.. that," Jade replied, at sea. "Well, I'm sure you cleared everything up."

Tori remained contentedly silent for a moment, drinking in the warm confidence. "Thanks for trusting me.. I was half expecting you to come in at some point just to make sure she was behaving herself."

Wide, innocent blue eyes gazed up at her, as Jade nibbled her lower lip. "The idea never crossed my mind." She told her, sincerely. "I just came back here, and studied my reports without a care in the world."

Tori's eyes dropped to her paper. "Really?"

"Yep." Jade smiled.

The brunette woman gently reached down and turned the paper right way up., then she affectionately patted Jade's cheek. "You are so busted."

Jade glanced down, then back up at her, like a six-year-old caught in the cookie jar. "Uh oh." Then she laughed, leaning back and relaxing in her chair, shrugging her shoulders with a look of endearing helplessness. "But I stayed right here, doesn't that count?"

Tori tried to hold her scolding look but lost it, and started laughing as well. "Yes, that counts." She leaned over and kissed Jade lightly. "And thank you."

The taller woman sighed, giving her a sheepish glance over dark eyelashes. "For being a nervous worry wart?" She replied. "Even though I know better?"

Tori put a hand on her cheek. "For caring." She answered. "You weren't worried I couldn't solve the problem, were you?" She waited for the head to shake no. "You were worried she'd be nasty to me." Now the head nodded yes. "Well, she sort of was, but we got things worked out."

Jade scowled. "Bitch."

"Jade, she thought you were playing with her," Tori told her. "I'd have been a bitch, too."

"Mmph." A grunt of grudging agreement. "Yeah, all right… I can see her point." Jade sighed. "I Kicked everyone's ass in that meeting."

"I heard," Tori smiled. "Sometimes you end up in a stall in the ladies room at just the right time to hear people bitching."

"Hehe…" Jade chuckled wryly. "You know what? I decided that if the board wants a bastard in charge here, I might as well give them a bastard in charge. Wait until I throw a request for a multimillion-dollar network upgrade on their desks. They will choke on it."

Tori smirked. "Well, let me go get back to work." She stood up. I'm glad Mari went for lunch. I wasn't looking forward to being the main course in the cafe today."

"People talking?" Jade watched her expression intently.

"yeah."

"Bother you?"

Tori put her hands in her pockets and looked out of the window at the bright sunny day. "I thought it would," she admitted. "But you know, I realized they all thought it anyway, Jade. Weren't fooling many people."

Jade chuckled softly.

"So what the heck." Tori shrugged. "I'll deal with it to be able to order lunch for you and walk in together without feeling like a felon. That was really starting to get to me."

Her partner nodded pensively. "Tradeoffs," she said, briefly. "I have my first board meeting tonight. I sent Alastair my acceptance and he didn't waste any time."

"I'll get a ride home." Tori patted her on the shoulder and headed for the hallway door. "See you later."

"Mm." Jade slouched back in her chair watching her partner leave until the door closed behind her, then she pulled over the two packets she'd taken from Cat and flipped open the first one.

"Stevie…" Her eyes flicked over the contents. "What in the hell am I going to do with you." She glanced through the stack of employment papers, running a cursory eye over the last sheet before she stopped, and reread it more carefully.