The Network is almost ready. James is finally retiring. And Tori and Andre hang out.

Twenty Two

The phone buzzed. "Jade?"

The voice almost made her jump, so intently had she been concentrating on the network layout on her screen. "Yes?"

"I have Mr. Alastair em linha um."

Shit. Jade glanced at her watch. Bastard works fast. "Go ahead." She listened for the click. "Morning, Alastair."

"Morning, Jade." Her Chairman's voice sounded upset. "I'd catch you on the vid phone, but I'm on the way into the office."

"Really? How's the weather there in New York." Jade morbidly tried to delay the inevitable. "It's raining here."

"Nice." Alastair sighed. "I guess you know why I'm calling."

She toyed with the notion of denying it. "I've got a good idea, sure." She put a bit of disgust into her tone. "Steve Asshole got home and decided to go ahead with his lawsuit."

Alastair was silent for a moment. "I got a voice mail from him. You're about right, Jade. He's filing suit against you, personally, today for a list of things, most of which I'd just laugh at, but the last thing on the list is the fact that you made decisions intended to bring you personal profit."

"Yeah? Like what? " Jade clicked on a router and checked its configuration. "Point of fact, Alastair, since I'm the owner and major stockholder just about every decision I make is calculated to make me, and all the other stockholders personal profit."

"Meaning, you hired Tori because you two are wives."

"I hired Tori before we were wives." Jade replied. "I hired Tori before we were even friends."

"You broke company rules."

"Not then, I didn't."

"Sure you did, Jade. You hired her without benefit of the interview process, and bypassed twenty other more qualified candidates."

Jade was quiet for a few heartbeats. "She was qualified."

"I'm not disputing that, I didn't then, and I don't now, Jade, especially since she's turned in a sterling performance the last six months. Tori is a good employee, a great manager, and a very good choice for the position she's in."

"But?"

A sigh. "But the point is, you did break the rules then."

"And?"

"And the board came down on my ass like a ton of bricks after they had a session with your personnel file."

"When was this?" Jade felt her whole body tense, but she kept her tone light. "Don't' tell me they worked over the weekend."

"Yesterday."

"What's their beef? Since when do they care who sleeps with who, Alastair? You know Harby is having a public affair with that country western singer, and Allan Jacobs got busted last month for soliciting underage sex on the Internet."

Alastair sighed audibly. "Their beef is, Ankow wants to make this a very public trial, exposing what happens when you let 'one of those people' be in the kind of position you are."

"Let those…" she sighed. "He'll lose the suit."

"It doesn't matter. The exposure will be there, regardless, and it's not like we can sweep you under the rug, Jade."

Jade folded her hands on her desk blotter, her screen forgotten. "What does he want?"

Another long sigh. "You, out. Me, resigning in a reasonable time period. The chairmanship up for a vote of the general stockholders."

She leaned forward. "And?"

"And what?"

"And, what are you going to do?" A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. "We already did this three months ago."

"I'd rather cut my own left nut off than to see you leave again." Alastair replied crisply, dropping into an unusual earthiness. "The board is meeting Thursday night. You need to be there. What'll happen after that, I don't' know, Jade." He went awkwardly silent then drew breath. "This doesn't help you, I know, but my personal position has been, and will be on Thursday that before, during, and now I trust your judgement implicitly, and of all the decisions I've seen you make, there aren't any I regret."

Jade's eyes closed. "It does help, Alastair. He's as much after you, as me… he tried to force me into trying to oust you. I said no. That's where the lawsuit comes in."

There was a long silence, enough for her to clearly hear the sound of the ac unit in her office cycling off and on. "Alastair?"

"You turned him down, hm?" His voice held equal measures of wryness and wistful curiosity. "Let me guess… you told him.."

"To kiss my ass, yes." Jade smiled a bit. "And regardless of what happens, I don't regret that. The man makes me sick, Alastair," She paused. "The board's spooked, huh?"

"Yes." Her boss replied. "But what worries me, Jade, is that he says he has proof that your relationship has subverted your judgement... and that both of you have taken advantage of the company, and your positions to circumvent company rules." He sounded troubled. "What's that all about?"

Jade stood, and went to her window, leaning against the glass and peering out. "Stupidity." She murmured. "I stayed home sick one day last week. Tori rearranged her schedule and took a half day off. " A head shake. "He followed her to the island."

"Well, that's not a big deal."

"No." It was embarrassing, now that she remembered it. "But we went to my high school reunion last Saturday, and he got pictures of us both there."

"So?"

"With our arms around each other."

"Again, so?"

"Dressed like a pair of biker chicks."

Dead silence. "OH my fucking god." Alastair cursed. "Tell me you're pulling my leg, Jade. I can't believe that."

"Wish I could." Jade crossed back to her desk and resumed her seat. "It was a come as you were costume party , and I don't remember if you remember how I was, but…"

"I remember."

"Well, it made quite a picture." Jade rested her chin on one hand. "I..um… screwed up there, Alastair. I'm sorry."

"Jade, you're the founder of the largest Gaming and Media company in the United States. How could you do something that stupid?"

It had been a very long time since she'd had to accept that kind of rebuke. And she really had no good answer for it, either. "It was a damn party, Alastair." She finally muttered. "I didn't really think about it."

"Jesus." Alastair sounded disgusted.

Jade sighed. "Well, now that you know the worst, I've got to go, Alastair. We're about to start bringing up the new network." She paused. "Guess I'll see you on Thursday." She felt the silence. "Unless you'd just like me to resign now, and save us all the trouble, and me a plane ride."

Her chairman hesitated, then made a sound halfway between a sigh and a grunt. "Are you doing anything in this picture?"

"Walking."

"It was a theme party?"

"Yes."

"Please tell me neither of you is naked."

"We aren't."

"Or drunk."

"Nope."

"Just walking?"

"That's it. We were in the parking lot… he was hanging out there waiting for us, which, now that I think about it, Alastair, is pretty damned strange, since the number of people who knew where I was that night was pretty damned limited."

"Okay. " He replied, with more assurance. "At least I've got a heads up…so when he pulls the damn thing out, I can laugh at it, or find some way to defuse that part of the issue." He sighed. "Least I can do for you putting yourself into the line of fire for me... but for god's sake, Jade… try to remember you're not some spike haired punk anymore?"

"All right." She answered, with admirable contriteness.

"I tried to call you last night.. you didn't answer your phone."

Jade let out a held breath, but knew the reprieve was only very temporary. "We were out on the boat.. with some very special guests." So strange to think of, much less say. "My parents."

"B.." Alastair started, then stopped. "Wait.. b… I tho…" He stopped again. "Didn't..um…I thought I remem…we sent…ah…"

"They made a mistake. He was MIA, and he came home." Jade smiled at the fighting fish, who blew bubbles at her.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me? Do we always have to talk only about disasters?" Alastair blurted, indignantly. "Jade, that's wonderful. I only had the pleasure of meeting your father the once, but I thought he was a wonderful guy, and I was really sorry to hear something had happened to him." A pause. "That's great news."

"Thanks." An alert went off on her monitor, and she switched screens. "Whoops… backbones are coming up.. I've gotta run, Alastair…if I've only got a few days left, I want to make sure this damn network falls into place first."

A soft sigh. "I'll talk to you later, Jade." The line went dead, and Jade looked at the phone for a long moment, before she stood, and picked up her jacket, then headed for the door.

"Hey, Tor!" Andre's voice rang across Bayside, and Tori swerved around a clown blowing up balloons to find him. It was her only night out, and she was more than ready for it after a long, aggravating day, and Jade's grim news on top of it.

"Hey!" She greeted her friend with a hug. "We the first ones here?"

"Yep… c'mon, let's sit down and grab a drink before the crowd arrives." Andre took her elbow and steered her over towards a table by the bay, taking a seat and waving at a roller skating waiter. "Your usual?"

"Make it a double." Tori slid down and groaned. "What a bitch of a day."

The waiter took down their order and skated off. "So... like, what's happening? Last time I saw you was at the bowling alley... everything work out okay? I didn't want to just call and ask."

Tori stifled a yawn. "Everything worked out great." She rolled her head to one side and smiled. "Really great… better than I could have imagined, in fact. Jade's father went up there, they got together, and they came back here! We spent all day yesterday with them."

"Really!" Andre laughed. "That's Dope!!!" he leaned closer. "So… when do I get to meet this mystery lady? I think Jade's father's real cool, I can't imagine what someone he'd marry would be like."

Tori sighed. "Well, we might be having more free time in the near future, so I'm sure we can arrange something." Jade had tried to make light of the whole thing, but even in their brief hallway encounter, she'd picked up how upset her wife was. "Looks like that guy who was causing all that trouble may have really done it."

Andre gave her a shocked look. "Wait… he's after both of you?"

"Me by association." Tori accepted her large, festive looking pina colada, selecting the huge chunk of pineapple and taking a bite of it. "Jade says he's not really after her, either - he's really after the company, but he knows he has to either have her on his side, or get rid of her to do that, and she told him to kiss her ass, so…"

"Ugh." Andre winced. "But where do you come in for all this?"

"Well." Tori sipped at the frozen drink, blinking at the kick of the rum. "Mm… when they say a double, they mean it. Anyway… " She took another sip. "He's got this trumped up lawsuit about Jade making money off the company, and taking advantage of her position.. one of the things he points out is me."

"You?"

"Me." Tori knew she should feel worse about the whole matter, but she didn't. "Me, because I got my job the way I did, and the fact that we are married, and the fact that he's got a picture of us half naked practically crawling all over each other."

Andre just stared at her.

"It was that party on Saturday... I told you about it."

"The reunion?"

"Yeah… Jade dressed up like a punk… and part of the deal was, I'd do the same, so I did… it was late, it wasn't really any big deal, we were just walking out to the Harley together, and he took a picture of it. Slimebag must have been hanging out in the parking lot half the night."

"The Harley?"

"Mmhm. Part of the costume, so to speak."

"So… you're not worried about all this?" Her friend leaned forward. "Tori, you guys could lose everything , Jade Certainly can't!"

"We know." Tori replied. "We were thinking of selling starting up another company anyway … you want a job?"

curly eyelashes just blinked and blinked at her. "You're joking, right?"

"No… why should I be? Jade's got a few bucks set aside for investing … she's a venture capitalist, and she knows her stuff, I know my stuff.. we've both got a lot of good networking contacts.. it's not like systems or games design and support is rocket science,Dre." Tori sucked on her straw. "We've been talking about that for a while, as a matter of fact. Too much BS around WesTrek lately."

"Huh." Andre sipped his own drink. "Wow.. that's so wild."

"I know." Tori held up her glass and nodded at the waiter. "I mean… I'm not happy about it, Dre, don't get me wrong. Neither is Jade… WesTrek as been her baby for the past ten Years since she was in college, for Christ's sake." She paused. "And I won't lie and say it doesn't hurt, I mean, I've done a good job for them, and I know it."

"Kick ass, if you ask me."

Tori smiled. "And to make it worse, that new network Jade's been busting her ass over for the last couple months is about ready… the new servers came on line today, and she couldn't even enjoy it. It made me really mad... that system is killer, Dre… Jade did such a fantastic job on the design and implementation… it's got everything."

"I heard my bosses talking about it." The African American man nodded. "Clyde was saying he can't wait to get switched over.. it's supposed to improve our processing speed by over forty percent… he was practically drooling right there in the elevator." he exhaled. "That whole thing must sting like hell, then."

"Yeah." Tori murmured sadly. "I feel so bad… she was so excited about the project, and now she said today it'd at least be nice to see real production data running on it before they lock her out of the systems."

"Damn." Andre bit his lip. "So.. it's a done deal, or??"

"She's got to go to New York on Thursday. They've got a big meeting of the board there… she figures they'll do it then." Tori played with her straw. "And I can't even be there, because I'll be on a plane for Fucking DC. "

"Ow."

'She said she'd just finish up with everything there, then meet me in DC. I guess we'll figure out what to do after that." Tori murmured. "Maybe take a few weeks off… spend some time hiking, or do Key West, or whatever."

"Live a little?"

"Yeah." A smile. "Depends on how they are though… they might not bother with me at all."

"Would you stay?"

"Are you nuts?" Tori snorted. "No way… they'd make that asshole Ankow my boss, probably… and I'd have to kill him."

Andre regarded her. "Oo. Aren't we butch."

"Oh, please." She glanced at the table tent as their server returned. "Can I get a big basket of chips and salsa while we're waiting?"

The server smiled as she set down her second drink her gaze briefly settled in Andre before walking away. "Sure hon.. be right back."

"So. Tell me about this punk outfit?" Andre sipped his own drink and leaned back. "Punk as in you had safety pins in your nose, or what?"

"Punk as in… a leather bikini." Tori blushed even as she said it. "Thank GOD I convinced Jade to let me wear jeans with it.. I'd have died if he'd gotten me with the little leather mini skirt it came with."

"A leather bikini!!!" Andre gasped shocked. "What's this guy's name? I want that picture!!! What was Jade wearing.. the same thing!!!" His eyes widened nearly to golf ball size. "Oh my god!!"

"Down boy… Dre, calm down before your brains start seeping out your ears." Tori covered her eyes with one hand. "No.. no.. though.. now that you mention it, I should have had her… well, anyway, no. I picked out a nice, lacy leather vest for her, and she wore that, with jeans and some silver chains and things I scraped up from around the house."

"Leather vest? That doesn't sound like fun."

"Well, it had a lot of openings in it.. in fact, it was mostly a few scraps of leather laced together."

"Still." The man shrugged. "Sounds kinda boring, after what you had on."

"Um.. she didn't wear anything under it." Tori lowered her voice.

"Oh." His eyebrows knit. "Oh!" his eyes widened. "Whoooaaa…. Now I'm gonna go find that guy and pry that picture out of his hands with a set of needlenose pliers!" They both laughed, and relaxed. "So, you spend the day out on the water yesterday? You're pink again."

Tori nodded lazily. "Yeah… went out in the morning, did two long, long reef dives, then went fishing, then did a couple more dives, then had a cookout on the beach at Jade's island." She dug something out of her pocket and handed it over. "Look what I found!"

"Oo." Andre took the item and examined it. "It's a coin.. wow… is this like, pirate treasure or something?" She watched Tori smile, and hitch one denim covered knee over the arm of her chair, consciously acknowledging just how much more self confident and comfortable with herself his friend was now. "So, how is it having in laws?"

Tori wrinkled up her nose. "It's so weird…I mean, I've always been so cool with Jade's father.. he's a really nifty guy, and I love him to death, and Jade's nuts about him. I thought her mother was going to be such a problem.. but.. in a way, she's not, because there are bits of her that are just like Jade, and I can see that." A tiny head shake. "I don't think they realize it, but they've got a lot of the same reactions, and just little stuff, like the way Jade folds her arms and crosses her ankles, you know, like this.. " She demonstrated. "Her mom does the same thing."

"Huh." Andre nodded. "Our family's like that…me my brothers were doing their Dad imitation the other day, and you know, you can just see when we are twenty years older, it's gonna be like having three of him around." She stopped.

Tori laughed, then waved as more of their friends appeared. "Here comes the gang… what's the plan, we just going to do dinner, or.."

"Thought maybe some dancing over at the club.." Andre nodded towards the distant sound of music. "Jade joining us?"

"She can't… she's going to be up to her eyebrows with that network tonight... I was going to stay, but she chased me out, and told me to have a good time." Tori nibbled her lower lip.

"Like she hasn't clued in yet that you'd be just as happy sitting with her and punching buttons, or whatever it is she's doing?" Andre chuckled. "C'mon, let's get wild and crazy… I'm in a macarena mood tonight!"

A chorus of groans.

"We could always do Karaoki!" The voally gifted man warned. "Remember, we had a bet on last time to see what it would take to get Tori up there and singing."

"There is not that much alcohol in San Francisco." Tori muttered under her breath, then stuffed a salsa laden chip in Andre's reopening mouth. "Okay.. .let's go.. the Hard Rock first, right? I'm itching for a nice big cheeseburger."

"Wow. This place has changed." Ceci remarked, as she edged past a roller skating half naked person coming down the sidewalk.

"Yeap." Jim agreed, as he took a breath of the salty air. "Best cheap entertainment I found yet, though." He eyed a blading woman who skimmed by, then made a small face. "Structural engineer'd have a ball with that one,"

Ceci laughed. They'd spent the morning doing some research on boats, and the marina, then decided to have lunch out on the Warf and take a stroll up the old boardwalk, taking in the new sights and the older ones. "I remember when this was full of great restaurants and happenings from here to the Embarcadero." She glanced over Jim's shoulder "Is that a roller skating dog?"

"Yeap." Her husband nodded. "Usta sit over there.." He pointed to a small balcony near a motel being rebuilt. "Watch that damn dog come up and down.. finally figgured out what his deal was."

"Hm?"

"Guy owned him, worked down at Penrods." Jim poked a thumb over his shoulder. "Had him a little girlfriend up twenty blocks or so.. at one of them little snack shops. He was taken notes."

"How do you know?" Ceci asked curiously.

"Stopped him and read one." Unrepentant blue eyes twinkled briefly. "Boy needed a dictionary and a bucket more imagination, tell ya that."

"Jimmy! How could you!" She scolded.

He hummed a bit.

"What did it say?"

"Heh." Jim smiled, then paused and glanced at a strip of beach visible through the buildings. He walked up onto the boardwalk, leaning on the railings and gazing at the wide, green blue expanse past the sandy shore. "That's a spot Jade likes."

Ceci regarded the wild bit of beach, near an abandoned old hotel, and full of sea grapes. It was mostly hidden from the walk, and if you were down there, probably had a nice view. "Is that where she was, that first time you saw her?"

"Yeah." Jim rested his chin on one hand. "Thought my eyes were playing damn tricks on me…but there weren't no mistaking that profile."

Ceci turned her head slightly and peered at him. "No." She admitted, with a tiny smile. "That's very true."

"Came back a few times, usually at night, always by herself… she always seemed sad, somehow." He exhaled. "Then one night, it was real late. I'd been down off the waterfront helping out an old bud of mine, and came back up here… thar she was."

Ceci just listened, understanding how hard it must have been for him to stay away.

"That night, I was scared for her." Jim went on. "She looked to me like she was at the end of something.. her rope, the road… I was halfway across the sand.. couldn't help myself, when she just up and left." A breath. "Didn't come back."

"Is that why you finally contacted her?"

"Had to know if she was okay." He replied simply. "Found out later that was the night she and Tori hooked up ."

His wife nodded thoughtfully. 'What did you think when you finally met Tori?"

He cocked his head to one side, in a manner very like Jade's. "Wasn't gonna have to put up with being called grandpa, fer one thing." He chuckled at her laughter. "Naw, I was glad… damn glad to see my kid finally find someone down the road and gone for her."

"She is." Ceci agreed. "And she's a real character sometimes, too.. which reminds me, sailor boy, how much did you have to do with that very neatly staged little drawing exhibition last night?" She poked Jim in the ribs.

"Ow." He put on an innocent expression. "Ah do not know what you are referring to, ma'am. Ah was just upstairs steering the boat." Jim pushed away from the railing. "And speaking of that.. don't we got a meeting with some guy about one of them damn things?"

"Mm." Ceci relented, and took his hand as they turned and started down the boardwalk towards the marina. "She's got an interesting style, you know." She remarked casually. "Talk about a pleasant surprise."

Jim just grinned into the late sunlight.

"Hey.. how about sushi after we pick out our new home?"

Wide, very round, blue eyes. "Scuse me?"

"C'mon, Jim… there's a great place just down the beach from here.. or at least there used to be… let's go!"

"You are asking me to put raw fish into my body?"

"Everyone does it… you know it won't hurt you."

"Mrs. West, if you knew as much about where them fish had been as ah do, you would not be consuming a square inch of them without it's being boiled for half an hour, then deep fried and served with potato chips." Jim warned her, glancing up as a man in nothing but a pale blue Speedo went by on a unicycle. "Good lord."

"See? I bet he eats sushi." Ceci teased.

"Yeap.. and it made his parts fall off, so's he kin ride that thing like that." The ex-seal stated. "Whoa.. hold on a minute. " He steered Cecilia up a short flight of stairs into a nondescript building. "Lemme get one little thing here out the way."

"Sure." Ceci looked around at the plain walls. "What is it?"

"Gotta sign my divorce papers from Uncle Sam." Jim glanced at her. "Make me a private citizen fer the first time since I was sixteen years old." His eyes dropped for a moment. "Thought maybe you'd want to be there fer that."

That plain, drab office with faded bulletins on the walls, and cracked folding chairs around the edges suddenly took on a patina of wonder for her. "You thought right." She took a breath as the uniformed attendant behind a small, scarred wooden desk looked up and smiled, evidently recognizing Jim.

"Evening sir… I've got some mail for you."

Jim walked over, pulling Ceci with him and took the rubber band wrapped package. "Thanks." He glanced at a small door behind her. "He in?"

She nodded. "We've got the papers all ready… I think you just have to sign them." Her eyes moved to Ceci curiously. "Ma'am."

"C'mon." James lead the way to the door and knocked on it, then pushed it open at a grunt from inside.

The office turned out to be an oddly adapted space, evidently converted from its original use as part of an old hotel kitchen. There was a screened back door, and a high ceiling, and shuttered windows all painted in a dull blue. A desk was seated squarely near the rear of the room, and seated behind it was a huge man, with a bull neck and a sparse crew cut. He looked up from under lowered, pale eyebrows as they entered.

"'Lo, Jim."

"Keith."

"Who's your pretty lady friend?" The low voice was almost a growl.

Jim let half a grin flicker on and off his face. "You never did meet mah wife, Cecilia, did you?" He glanced to one side. "Ceci, this is Keith Hawkins, he sorta took care of things here for me."

The man behind the desk stood, towering over even Jim's tall height and stuck a hand the size of a loaf of bread out at her. "No, ma'am.. I never did have the pleasure.. but I'm damn sure glad I have had it now." A grin shaped his craggy face. "This damn barnacle didn't mention he'd met back up with you… just sent me a note asking for mustering out rags."

Ceci took his hand gingerly and pressed it, since shaking something that big didn't seem to be a good idea. "Nice to meet you.. and thanks, for helping Jimmy out."

The giant took a folder from a tray on his desk and opened it, then reversed its direction and pushed it across the desk surface. "Sign."

Jim pulled a pen out of his back pocket and sat down on the corner of the desk, blue eyes flicking over the document quickly. Then he looked up at Hawkins in surprise. "Ah didn't ask fer this."

The bigger man chuckled softly. "Jim, shut the fuck up and sign it, willya? " A look. "Sorry for the language, ma'am."

"I've been married to a sailor for over thirty years" Ceci replied dryly. "I've heard the term before."

"I never talked like that in front of you." Jim protested indignantly.

"No, honey.. but all your friends did." His wife patted him on the knee. "It's okay." She leaned over and studied the papers. "What is it?"

"You make it long enough to get retirement benefits, you need to take em." Hawkins replied quietly. "Specially if you done it the way Jim did… not spent the time behind some damn desk." He watched James sign his name to the bottom carefully. "And while you're at it, gimme a god damned address for you so I can have the Department of the Navy, which is crawling up my butt, send you all those frigging decorations you refused to go pick up."

"Ah don't want them." Fiercely.

"Too damn bad." Keith shot back. "Give em to your kid, if you don't like the colors."

James scowled. "What in the hell would she do with the damn things?"

Ceci put a hand on his arm. "Treasure them." Their eyes locked. "This is the child who bought and made a scale model of every ship you sailed on, Jimmy."

"Aww." Keith grinned. "He never told me that… ain't that cute."

"Son of a biscuit." Jim sighed exaggeratedly. "Fine.. fine.. here." He scribbled down Jade's address on the paper. "Send the damn things there if you have to." Long, scarred fingers pushed the papers back across the desk. "Lemme go get my kit." He got up and ambled out the back door, leaving them in silence.

Keith sat back down, and regarded her. "So. You're the missus, huh?"

"Yes." Cecilia looked around, then glanced back at him. "Bet you didn't know he had one."

"Bet you're wrong." The man snorted. "Bet I know more about you and that damn kid of his than I do my own mother." A crooked smile. "Jim's private'r then hell about himself, but damn, did he mouth off about the two of you."

Ceci smiled, and nodded, and they both regarded each other in silence for a bit.

"He's been through Hell." Keith finally said quietly. "He lived through something woulda killed just about anybody else I ever knew."

"I know."

"Take care of him, ma'am. He's a special guy."

"I will." Cecilia answered softly.

They turned as Jim came back in, with a simple, dark blue duffel bag. "That's bout it.' He stated, holding a hand out to Keith. "Ain't going far.. be seeing you guys round the docks."

Keith took his hand, and shook it with a quiet respect. "Keep in touch, Jim… you know where to find us."

"Yeap." With a brisk nod, James turned and captured Ceci's hand, then headed for the door., walking calmly out of a chapter of his life, and closing it firmly behind him. They emerged onto the sidewalk, into a wash of colorful sunlight and a blast of salsa music and started off down the street.

Ceci allowed the silence for go on for a while, as they passed trendy hotels, and those in the process of becoming trendy. "How does it feel?" She finally asked, as the marina came into view. "I know they were like a family to you."

Jim walked along a few paces, visibly thinking. "Yeap." He mused, as they mounted the steps. "They were that.. but I'll tell you, Cec.. having to choose all the time tween going and staying… that about killed me." He paused, giving her an honest look. "I know you didn't think so sometimes… but climbing that gangplank again was so hard."

Ceci studied him. "Watching you walk up it just as hard for me." She held a hand out. "C'mon.. let's go buy our own this time… we can run up and down it all day long together."

A slow smile. "All right." He took her hand. "But, Cec?"

"Hmm?"

"No pink."

She pointed a finger at him, and shook it. "Just for that, pink curtains."

"C"mon now." He pulled the door open.

"Pink seats on the head."

"Cecilia West."

"A pink pennant on the masthead."

"Oh mah god."

Ceci chuckled. "So, what are we going to name it?"

"Pepto Bismol, at this rate."

"Damn it." Jade thumped the side of the monitor in annoyance, for about the twentieth time. "C'mon, you piece of…"

"Hey, boss…. Talking nice gets you more than beating up the stuff." Sinjin commented, from his safe spot across the floor. They were in the operations center, surrounded by mildly humming equipment and the hiss of high powered air conditioning units. "Honey, vinegar, you know the story."

"What?" Jade grumbled, as she initiated a command again. "What story?"

"That you can get more flies with honey than vinegar?"

"Why the hell would I want flies?" His boss muttered, engrossed in a startup script. "Ah, there you are, you bastard." She typed in a set of commands, reviewing the results, then restarted the unit again. "Boot or die."

Sinjin worked at his own project, keeping an eye on the tall figure hunched over the console. His mind drifted back a few years, remembering long hours spent in this very room in the company of the younger, much less polished Jade West, a task made easier by the fact that the executive had changed into a pair of jeans and a tank top before she attacked the stubborn startup issues.

The pose was the same, too. Feet locked around the chair legs, one elbow propped on the desk with her head resting on it, the other hand skimming the mouse over the desktop with quick, precise motions. He could see Jade's sharp profile, too, very still except for the eyes racing over the screen, small muscles alongside them twitching in response.

A twinge of nostalgia nudged him sharply. "Y'know, Jade.. I kinda miss having you in the trenches here with us." Sinjin had been a novice system administrator when they'd worked together, when Jade had just been made a local operations manager, and took control of the data center. It had been a shock, to say the least, but since he'd been new, he'd adapted to her style faster than the rest of the staff. "I really do."

Pale blue irises, dilated almost to black turned his way as Jade cocked her head to one side. "Why?" She asked curiously. "I was no picnic to work for."

No, that was true. But one thing about working for Jade - you always knew where you stood. If you did something right, you heard about it. If you screwed up and she was pissed off, you sure as hell knew about it. You never wondered, unlike some of the people he'd worked for prior to WesTrek. Now, he regarded the serious, intense face across from him and shook his head. "I dunno… it was always just so comforting to have you come in and take over a problem. I knew it would go away then."

Jade smiled. "Thanks. I think."

"I've worked for supes who didn't know jack about what I did - you don't know how much it rocked to know I had someone there who not only knew what I did, but could do it better than I could." He added. "Very cool, boss… very cool."

Jade's face twitched into a reluctant smile. "Now, that - that's a compliment coming for you." She reviewed her console. "Ah… good." The main routers had finally booted up, and she could see them sitting, ten green, lonely islands floating in a mess of dark lines that represented the network. "Now… let's see what we got here." She accessed the master system and started browsing. "Shit."

Sinjin winced. "Now what?"

"Who configured these?"

"Uh..why?"

"They didn't follow the EWO, for one thing, and they configured the ports ass backwards for another. So who did it?"

"Um.. me."

Jade looked at him and drummed her fingers on her console keyboard.

"I just thought this configuration was better."

More drumming.

Sinjin grinned. "Just like old times, huh?"

A grudging smile returned. "Oh yeah…. Just like." Jade typed in a command, and hit enter. "Startup dialog….here we go."

"Jade! You just dumped that whole router!" Sinjin protested. "It took me hours to get that thing done!"

"It's not done the way I want it." Jade replied, with a scowl. "So I guess I've gotta do it myself." She busied herself typing, glancing at a network configuration to refresh her memory on the different ports and addresses.

It felt guiltily good, she realized, to be doing the hands on again. So much of her job was subjective. Decision making, planning, arguing, pushing… So very little was simple, cut and dried work that having the opportunity to dive back into something as basic as this was, struck her as almost therapeutic. She checked her watch, then continued typing, glad she'd sent Tori out to have fun.

More typing.

She was glad, right? No need for both of them to be stuck here in the cold room, doing basic routine stuff that was sure to bore anyone. Tori deserved time on her own, with her friends, doing the stuff she liked to do.

Jade didn't mind doing that either, in fact, she enjoyed the odd night out with her friends, though she usually felt a little uncomfortable mostly due to the fact that they were by and large all employees of WesTrek, except for Andre, He'd earned his friendship.

You'd think, since she lived with Tori, that wouldn't bother her, but it did - she believed in keeping a professional distance, and that extended to social occasions with people who were levels lower than her in the company hierarchy. That was admittedly hypocritical, and Jade readily acknowledged that, but she also knew Tori's friends were a little uncomfortable with her for the same reason.

And of course, she wouldn't be selfish enough to ask Tori to give up her night to keep her company. That'd be selfish, and self centered, and mean, and…..

Jade sighed. Damn, I wish she was here. She finished reconfiguring a port and wrote the configuration to memory, watching the port come up and wink friendly green lights at her. How juvenile, Jade. Why don't you ask her to get a teddy bear and spray it with her perfume, so you can carry it around and hug it when you get lonely. Her conscience prodded her sarcastically.

"Sorry, Jade… did you say something?" Sinjin inquired, as he started his own task running.

"Um." She looked up. "No… why, what did you think I said?"

"Something about bears?"

"No... no, I was just thinking about ordering..um.. pizza or something." She looked up. "Interested?"

"Sure." Sinjin agreed amiably. "I'll order… Let's see… " He closed his eyes and concentrated. "Sausage, Pepperoni, beef and pork with extra cheese…." One eye opened and peered hopefully at her. "Am I right?"

Jade chuckled. "Yeah."

"Wooo… you mean Tori hasn't converted you to a veggie pizza yet?" Sinjin laughed. "I know she's not scarfing down that prescription for a heart attack."

"We get a half and half." Jade admitted. "I make sure to flick any errant growths over on her side of the pie." She concentrated on another part of the configuration. "Ah.. there." She cut and pasted, then recycled the screen and reset the equipment. "That's better."

"Damn." Sinjin peered at the monitor with wry admiration. "Can I be like you when I grow up?" He picked up the phone and dialed. "Want some cheese breadsticks sticks too?"

"Sure."

"Pepsi?"

"Root beer."

"They have floats."

"Bingo."

"Right." Sinjin placed the order and put the phone down, then got up and manually reset a large machine. "We're going to have to replace this switch, Jade..it's been giving me fits, and they can't work the kinks out of that last patch."

Jade grunted, and set up a test pattern. "That's the international DS3's - figures."

The door opened, revealing Brent's stocky figure as he rolled an AV cart into the room. "Hey Sinjin.. what's up? I hear we…." His blue eyes went a little rounder. "Oh.. sorry, ma'am. Hello." He paused. "Is your machine not working? Want me to take a look at it?" Blue eyes went a little round as he saw Jade manipulating the big console. "Or set you up a new one?"

"Hi Brent." Sinjin chuckled. "Don't get freaked out… Jade's router qualified." He smiled at the look on Brent's face. "She's reconfiguring the new network."

"Got a problem with that?" Jade growled softly.

"No..no… ma'am of course not. I just.." Brent looked a little perplexed.

"Just what? C'mon, spit it out."

"Um.. well, sure.. I.. " The tech peered at the seated executive. "I mean, I didn't think….um…"

Jade looked right up at him, pinning him with an intense gaze. "Think what?"

He swallowed. "Well, I didn't think you… what I mean is - well, see… you're the boss."

"And?" A dark eyebrow lifted.

"And bosses do bossy things." He blurted. "Not um… techie things." A pause. " You know?"

Sinjin wisely kept quiet, burying his head into his monitor and typing away furiously. He knew his boss was just playing with the sometimes overly serious Brent, but hoped she didn't take it too far. Jade could be a little too intense sometimes, especially for the younger crowd who didn't know her like Sinjin did.

Jade finished what she was doing and folded her hands on the console. "Are you insinuating that I'm not a nerd?" Her voice took on a dangerous note.

He blinked at her.

"You think that just because they gave me a title, that I don't know what end of a cable to plug in like the rest of the people on 14?"

"B.." He squeaked, then stared at Sinjin in desperate appeal.

Jade got up, needing a stretch anyway, and stalked over, putting her hands on her denim covered hips. "Are you accusing me of techno turnip hood, Brent?" She towered over him, eyeing the tech like a hungry panther.

He stuck his tongue out trying to speak then bit down on it, making his nostrils flare. A blush colored his face brick red, and he looked like he was going to faint. "N..n…no, ma'am… no… I'd never do that."

She leaned forward and lowered her voice to a purr. "Good."

"Jade?" Sinjin peeked out from behind his console, realizing his tech was about to burst into spontaneous human combustion.

"Yes?" The same, low, sexy voice answered, rolling the word playfully.

"Unless you want to clean up the piddle, stop scaring the piss out of Brent, will ya?" He glanced at the hapless tech. "Relax. Her bark is way, way worse than her bite."

Slowly, Jade turned and faced him, lowering her head a little and pinning him with an icy, merciless gaze. One eyebrow edged way up. "You have never been bitten." She reminded him. "So how would you know?"

"Uh." Sinjin rubbed his jaw. "I heard stories?" He ventured. "Really, really good ones?"

Jade paused, then laughed. "Yeah, right." She crossed back over and sat down again, resuming her task. "For the record, Brent… I count as a geek."

"Yes. Ma'am." He replied instantly. "Maybe we can talk some EPROMS sometimes."

Sinjin chuckled. "Jade can talk EPROMS. Heck, Jade can burn EPROMS. Matter of fact, Jade designed this ops room." He commented. "And about fifty percent of the systems we run on, for that matter."

"Really?" Brent sounded interested. He rolled his cart in and put it away, then edged around the console desk and settled in a chair near Jade. "Hey… wait a minute… back in the cross-patch room, there's a bunch of DR's stenciled on the punch downs.. is that you?" He was obviously viewing her in a whole new light.

"Yup." Jade set up another test pattern. "This looks decent.. I'm going to try and bring the rest of the subnets online."

"Wow." Brent murmured. "Hey..that means you wrote the inventory program too, huh?" His eyes brightened. "Your initials are in the code."

A nod.

"You put in that subroutine that catches the boxes serial number, and cross-references it against the original invoice, to make sure it's billed to the right department?"

"Yes."

"Wicked." Brent sighed. "I love that subroutine." His gaze took in Jade's profile with new, intense interest. "It's my favorite one."

Jade looked up at him for a moment, then over at Sinjin, who snickered. "Thanks." She leaned back, and propped a knee up against the wood of the console, watching her program run. The phone buzzed, and Sinjin picked it up, then stood.

"Pizza's here.. that was fast." He remarked. "Be right back." The MIS chief slipped out of the door and let it close behind him, leaving the two of them alone.

There was a bit of silence. Jade remained deep in thought, memories cascading gently over her as she sat, remembering the hours spent administering this small cog in the company. She'd been happy doing that, she realized, probably it had been the last time she'd been able to simply go home at night and forget about her job.

Gone home, and escaped to the clubs, spending her time drinking and trading bullshit stories with a group of like minded friends, dabbling in shallow attractions and losing herself in long weekends of bumming around on the beach.

Going nowhere in particular, and finding herself satisfied with that as the pleasures of the moment absorbed her interest, and she let a lot of things slide - ambition chief among them.

Then there'd been Shari.

And everything had changed.

Nothing was fun anymore. She'd learned to judge herself by a different set of rules, and left behind the comfort zone of the ops center to push herself into the stark challenge of project management. Proving she was everything Shari said she wasn't, driving herself to higher and higher levels until she'd broken through the glass ceiling, and landed her butt in a plush office with a business card that said founder and Chairman on it, and everyone who ever said she was a loser could just chew that and swallow.

And you know what? No one had cared. No one had been left close enough to pat her on the back and say.. 'Good job, Jade. You did it. We're proud of you.'

No one. The night she'd become a billionaire, she'd taken a bottle of champagne down to the beach, and shared it with the night crabs and the hiss of the waves, feeling nothing but a sense of empty relief. So she'd decided to just allow the achievement too become it's own end, and convinced herself that it made her happy.

Until one damn fall day when she'd taken over a consolidation gone bad, and walked into a small, boxy office to deliver a pile of bad news to some ordinary company manager she never expected to see again.

And lost her heart, her soul, and her carefully constructed self deception all in less time than it took to think about it.

"Ma'am?"

Jade jumped a little. "Oh.. sorry. Yes?"

Brent moved a little closer, the flush visible on his pale skin. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

She shook herself, dispelling the memories and turned in her chair. "No.. go ahead, Brent." She issued him a brief smile. "I wasn't upset before - I was just tweaking you a little."

"Yeah, I figured…Um… " His nostrils flared. "You and Ms. Tori are pretty good friends, right?" He looked around, and lowered his voice.

Wild, ringing alarms went off in Jade's head, so loud she was surprised Brent couldn't hear them. "Yes." She answered cautiously. "Why?" What now? A thousand situations ran through her head, and Ankow was at the bottom of most of them. Did he have different information.? Had Brent heard him hunting down facts? What was he up to? What trouble…

"Uh…" The man rubbed his jaw. "Well it's just.."

"What is it, Brent?" Jade asked, her interest sharpening.

"Do you.. um…I know this is a weird question.. but d'you know..um.."

Uh oh. "Yes?"

"Is she seeing anyone?"

Total silence. Jade sucked in a breath and clamped her jaw shut, to keep the nervous giggle from emerging. She waited a beat. "Yes." A grave, considered reply. "She is Married Brent." God damn it. Is he the last person in the whole bloody company to get the bleeping memo?

"Oh." He looked crestfallen. "Okay…well, I kinda thought so.. I mean, she's so nice, and so pretty.. but I figured it was worth asking. Thanks, Ma'am… I know it's a real personal question, and I do appreciate you answering it. He was still brick red.

"No problem."

"She's probably not my type anyway…. Huh?" A wistful question.

Jade stared at him. "Um…. Brent…."

"It's okay." He dropped his eyes. "It's probably some real smart guy with a nice car." He exhaled and shrugged. "Kind of a stupid question."

"Um." The executive rummaged around, trying to come up with something intelligent to say. "I'm sure you're… ah.. there's nothing wrong with you, Brent, she's just..um.."

"Hey, Ma'am.. it's okay, really. I understand - you don't have to go any further." Brent sighed. "Must be some lucky guy."

"B…" Jade was sure her brains were leaking out her ear by now. "N…"

The door opened, and Sinjin walked in with two boxes full of pizza. "Hey…. Look what I found!" He opened the door further and a familiar blond figure came in behind her.

"Hi." Jade croaked, gratefully.

Tori trudged in and circled the console, putting her arms around Jade's neck and kissing her head. "My transmission gave up just outside the office… and I got roped into Country line dancing Karaoke charades. I'm trashed - can we go home?" She let her cheek rest against her wife's dark hair. "Hey, Brent." Gentle brown eyes regarded him wearily.

There was a tiny little silence, until Brent shuffled his feet. "Guess I had the smart and the car right." He muttered, flushing an even deeper red as he stood up and scurried out of sight behind a couple of mainframes.

"Huh?" Tori cocked her head. "What's up with Brent?" She looked at Jade, and her brows creased, then she glanced up at Sinjin, who shrugged in honest puzzlement.

Jade sighed. "A clue just bit him in the ass."

"Ow." Tori peered into the gloom behind the consoles. "About what?"

One hand lifted as the executive scratched her jaw. "Tell ya later." She patted Tori's calf, absorbing the warmth pressing against her back as the smaller woman leaned against her. "Siddown… I've just got to finish this setup." She turned and pulled the keyboard closer as Tori settled in the chair next to her, watching with interest.

Jade glanced at the monitor, bemused to see her reflection faintly echoing back at her from the glare, a smile shaping her lips completely without her permission. Tori's hand casually rested on her knee under the desk, and the smile widened.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind. Would Tori care if she was just a mid level ops manager? She turned her head slightly and studied the intelligent profile next to her. She liked the perks of their respective positions, Jade was sure, but…hadn't she said she'd be content to wander around selling poetry for food if she had to?

Was she serious?

Am I serious, thinking about this? Didn't I work my tail off for years getting to where I am? Would I really want to go back to where I was then, and just settle for being good at something, content with a steady job with decent pay and benefits?

Jade regarded the diagram on the screen, it's spiderweb of tracings indicating the elegantly designed network's far flung reach. Finished, it would change the way the company did business, and toss them into the 21st Century as one of the few corporations capable of projecting the last few year's explosion of data services into the future.

The smile in the monitor grew, and became a trifle ironic. With a flourish, Jade brought the rest of the system on line, and watched as dark gray webbing came alive with the colors of the test patterns she was running. "What do you think?" She asked the avidly watching Tori.

Sinjin got up and leaned over her shoulder, peering at the screen. "Jesus. Complete redundancy.." He deliberately deactivated one of the big ports, and they watched as the test traffic smoothly rerouted itself. "Holy shit."

"Wow." Tori was running an analyzer on another console. "Would you look at that bandwidth…I couldn't bottleneck this if I tried."

They both looked up at Jade with something close to nerd awe.

Jade smiled, enjoying the moment completely. It was almost better than chocolate ice cream.

Almost.