How will Jade handle an overnight in the hospital? Ad where does James have to go before coming to see his beloved daughter? Started outlaw Sea that story is super short.


Twenty Seven


Jade was chiefly aware of a lot of things aching, as she hauled herself out of a deep sleep and responded to her body's nagging crankiness.

Ow. She had a headache that would have felled a bison in it's tracks, and her arm and shoulder felt like they'd been forced into a bad position for several days. Grumpily, she opened one eye, blinking as the fuzzy surroundings very slowly came into focus.

Ah. Jade had to smile, despite the discomfort. Tori was slumped against the bed, holding her hand, fast asleep. In the room, the first pale light of dawn was starting to show through the windows, but otherwise it was dark save the dim nightlight above them.

But there was enough light for Jade to distinguish the curve of Tori's cheek, covered in fine, soft down. Light enough for her to see the delicate gold eyelashes. Light enough to catch the faintest hint of a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth.

What an amazing thing love was. Jade thought. It even drove you to do really dumb things like sleep leaning against a set of metal railings. Oh, she's gonna regret this when she wakes up "Tor?" Jade squeezed the fingers clasped in her own. "Hey, chipmunk."

"Uh?" Tori murmured. "Jade?" She stirred, then shifted. "Ow." Her eyes opened in surprised displeasure. "What in… augh. I can't believe I did that." A hiss. "Jesus!"

"Easy, sweetie." Jade laughed softly. "Stand up slow." She released Tori's hand and eased over onto her back, grabbing hold of her lover's shoulder as she tried to straighten up. "Easy."

"Son of a…" Tori managed to get upright, her legs and back cramping like all get out. "Oh my god, how stupid was that." She leaned on the bed and groaned. "And wouldn't the nurses have just loved walking in here."

Jade ruffled her hair, and rubbed the parts of her within reach. "Ah, they'd live." She disagreed. "Now, if they found you in bed with me…" She grinned.

Tori looked up, grinning back rakishly from between very disordered bangs. "Ohh… I was tempted." She admitted. "That's how I ended up over here.. I just came over to.. um.. " She met Jade's eyes, and felt suddenly shy. "Anyway, I sat down for a minute, and whammo." She fell silent, and her gaze dropped to the mussed sheets.

Jade watched her. "Tor?"

"Mm?"

"Thanks for staying." Jade said. "It would have been such a nightmare for me if you hadn't." She waited for Tori to look up. "Literally."

Tori gazed at her. "Why?" She asked. "No one likes being in the hospital, Jade, but they're not that bad, really."

Jade shifted, and settled her arm in a less uncomfortable position. She found herself studying the ceiling, its tiled surface bearing tiny pock marks barely visible to her. "I fell out of a tree when I was little." Her tone was quiet and casual. "They thought I'd cracked something... so they took me up to Children's, and had my head X-rayed."

Tori put a hand on Jade's arm in silent comfort.

"They decided to keep me overnight, and put me in a room with a real nice guy, an older boy." Jade went on. "He was funny. Decided to spend the night telling me stories… he must have been Ten or Eleven." She paused, and thought, then went on. "I woke up in the middle of the night, and looked over, and I..." Jade stopped, staring off into the distance.

Tori waited.

"I knew something was wrong." The quiet voice went on finally. "I got out of bed and went over, and I realized he was dead."

It was like getting hit in the gut, hard. Tori hadn't expected this, hadn't expected an answer to her question that even remotely resembled this. "Sweetheart." She barely whispered the word.

"I think I started screaming." Jade murmured.

Tori didn't give a damn about the nurses. She hauled herself up onto the bed and put her arms around Jade, pulling her close and hugging her. "Lord."

Jade let her head lay against Tori's chest, reliving the moment. Even all these years later, she could still feel the terror, the unreasoning fear that had haunted her dreams for a very long time after.

She remembered the nights she'd been afraid to go to sleep, terrified that she'd wake in the middle of the night and go in search of her parents, only to find them cold, and stiff, and staring. Jade drew in a shaky breath. It still shook her, even now. "Guess it made an impression."

Tori stroked her hair gently. "How old were you?"

"Five or six." Jade replied, blinking. She was surprised to feel a tear roll down her face. "Silly, I guess, to even think about it now. "

"No." Tori closed her eyes and held on, kissing Jade's head then laying her cheek against the spot. "Not silly." She felt her throat closing up, her entire body hurting for the child Jade had been, wanting to go back in time and be in that place, at that time to hold Jade just as she was now, and chase the fear away.

Jade allowed herself to accept the safety of that embrace. The ghost of that night lurking inside her loosened its hold, and as she reached up and clasped Tori's arm, she felt the terror unwind and drift away into the dawn's breaking.

Silence settled peacefully over them.

They did, in fact, surprise the nurses.


James West walked down the hallway, dodging sleepy interns pushing carts of equipment at a far slower pace than his rolling stride.

It was early, he reckoned, before the visiting hours of the hospital, but if it was one thing Jim had learned in all his years of service it was that if you acted like you knew what you were doing, folks tended to leave you be.

Since he knew where he was, and knew where he was going, sure 'nough, nobody did ask him what he was doing in the hospital so early. Exchanging gruff nods with a security guard, he went past the nurses station and down the next corridor towards one specific door set among many up and down the hall.

As to why he was there? Jim circled around a laundry cart. Well, it wasn't that he didn't trust Tori to keep an eye on his daughter, he surely did, it was just that he knew how Jade felt about being inside these damn places and it never hurt to make sure.

Did it?

There were two nurses standing in the doorway he'd identified as Jade's, staring inside the room and Jim found his heart starting to go double time as he came up behind them. "Somethin' not right here?"

The women jumped, and one simply turned and left. The other looked up at Jim's towering height. "Oh, sir, visitors are not allowed now…" She started to take his arm to lead him away, glancing over her shoulder into the room. "Excuse me now.."

"Ah ah." Jim simply stood still, knowing the petite, dark haired nurse wasn't going to be pulling his six foot four inch bulk anywhere. He glanced into the room anxiously, then let out a chuff of relief when he spotted the two figures snuggled together on the bed. "Would you just lookit that."

"Sir." The nurse pulled on his arm with complete ineffectiveness. "Please."

"Chill yer jets." Jim turned his head and regarded her. "You got something you need doing, g'wan. I can wake these here kids up."

The woman stopped tugging. "You can? " She asked. "Oh. Would you? This is a situation we're just not willing to get involved in."

One of Jim's grizzled eyebrows lifted. "Waking folks up?" He queried. "Damndest thing I ever heard. That malpractice stuff must be hitting you all pretty fierce."

"M… ah, no, no." The nurse gave up. "Excuse me." She turned and left, walking quickly away towards a door marked "Nurses Lounge".

Jim watched her go, then he scratched his jaw thoughtfully, before shrugging and returning his attention to the room. He stepped inside with utmost quiet and padded over to the bed, spending several moments just watching his children sleep.

Then, with a rakish grin, he pulledhis phone pocket of his pullover, and opened it, examining the controls carefully before he put it to his face, and allowed the phone camera to focus. When he had the scene properly adjusted, he released the shutter, and heard the click and whirr of the camera operating. After a second, he pulled it down and reviewed the LCD screen on the back, examining the digital image. "Huh.."

He shook his head, then closed the camera up and tucked it away before moving closer to the bedside. His daughter was curled half onto her side, with her head pillowed against Tori's chest, with both of Tori's arms wrapped around her.

Jim felt a smile pull at the skin on his face, still stiff after all the scarring, and the surgery. Hospitals weren't his favorite place either, but, to be honest, he'd spent more time in them than Jade had. Even now, after all the work they'd done, he knew the scars were still damn ugly to look at, and he was conscious of that even with Ceci.

God bless her, she never so much as flinched, even at the worst of it, but it didn't stop Jim from remembering the averted eyes, or open stares of others.

Like them nurses had been staring, only they'd been looking inside this here room. Jim laid his big hands on the railing. Looking at something so beautiful, it made his heart ache, having seen so much hate in his lifetime that love could only be exquisitely beautiful to him.

Very gently, he put a hand on Jade's shoulder. "Gigi." He kept his voice low.

Jade's eyes quivered, then blinked open, the dark brows over them contracting as she tried to place where and when she was. She turned her head and peered up at him, then realized why it was so nice and warm and promptly turned the heat up by blushing a deep, vivid crimson. "J.."

James had to chuckle. "Gigi, I ain't' seen you turn that color since I done caught you skinny dipping out at that waterhole when you were ten."

"Erk." Jade's throat issued an adolescent squeak.

It was enough to wake Tori up, though, and she also gazed at James with sleepy eyes for a few seconds before her brain booted and nearly caused her to fall off the bed. "Uh…. Hi, Dad." She managed to cough out.

"Hi there, kumquat." Jim responded amiably. "You look right comfortable."

Tori looked at Jade, who was still doing her best macintosh apple imitation. "Sorry, honey." She apologized weakly. "Didn't mean to do that."

Jade sighed, and rubbed her heated face with her good hand. "S'allright." She said. "Could have been worse." She glanced at her father. "Morning."

"Morning, Gigi." Jim said. "I'd ask how y'all were feeling, 'cept I figure you look pretty good to me just now."

A weak laugh forced its way out of Jade's throat, as she untangled herself from Tori's embrace. She rolled over onto her back as her lover slid out of bed, and straightened her t-shirt with as much dignity as she could muster.

Which, to be honest, wasn't much.

"What was your question again?" Jade finally asked, running her fingers through her mussed hair. "Oh, right. How do I feel." Slowly, she straightened out her body, and flexed her arm. The results mildly surprised her. "Better than yesterday." She said, lifting a hand to touch the lump on the back of her head. It seemed to have gone down some. "Yeah, the headache isn't so bad, and my arm hurts less."

"Good to hear." Jim gave her an approving look. Tori had snuck into the restroom with her overnight bag, and was apparently utilizing the sink there with a good amount of vigor. "Had me a little worried yesterday."

Jade tensed her lips, then shrugged. "What a botched event that was." She exhaled. "A total screw up, and it was my fault."

Jim rolled his eyes. "Git yer head out of that there bucket of whup, Jade Giana." He scolded. "You ain't responsible for them folks and you know it."

"I should have found out more about what was going on." Jade shook her head. "One of our people could have really gotten hurt in there." She pulled herself up a little straighter. "I should have checked first."

James looked around, then leaned over and smoothed the dark hair out of his daughter's eyes with a gentle hand. "Don't beat yourself up, Jade. Ya'll are gonna make me start beating up mah own head, cause sure as the day is long, I should have figured what was up when we got there, don't you think?"

Jade looked at him thoughtfully.

"Them people just knew how to use a diversion when they had one, all right?" Jim went on. "Now we got to get them pieces back together, so none of them dirty dogs gets off." He waited for Jade to nod, and she finally did. "Good girl. I'm going to take a ride down there, and see what I can figure out."

"You don't have to." Jade lodged what she knew was a futile protest. "Let me have Gerry handle it, dad."

"You saying I ain't up to this?" Jim asked.

"No." Jade felt very off center. "I'm not saying that."

"Good." Jim patted her arm. "You take it easy now, Gigi. Keep an eye on that kumquat of yours, make sure she gets some breakfast, all right?" He waved, and started out before Jade could say a word, disappearing around the corner of the door with stealthy speed.

Jade stared at her bare feet, sticking out from under the mussed covers, and wiggled her toes. It was not starting out to be a very organized day.


Tori flexed her hands, and peered at her laptop screen. Her report was almost done, the data cataloged neatly into columns that laid out in black and white the discrepancies she'd found. It wasn't' a smoking gun, she realized. More a pattern of carelessness and lack of accountability in moving funds from one account to the other, but the pattern was there and if they got nothing else, would allow the government auditors a place to start.

If nothing else. Tori rubbed her lower lip. Sinjin had taken the data storage cube back and secured it at the office, but the information they may or may not have gotten from there would have to wait for Jade's inspection. Only Jade had the algorithms to unlock the tracks they'd copied, and those were tucked inside her head and nowhere else.

Tori hadn't asked her, yet, if she remembered what they were. It was a scary kind of question, and she knew concussions did strange things sometimes. She didn't think the injury was affecting Jade, but you never knew, and certainly her wife had been quieter and more withdrawn than usual since she'd been here.

She knew Jade was grateful for her presence. Tori was grateful that she'd followed her instincts and did what she'd done, especially after Jade had told her what happened to her as a child this morning. "That poor little kid." She shook her head slowly. "I wish I'd been there for you, Jade. I swear I do."

The room, of course, was empty except for her and her laptop. Jade had been taken down for another scan of her head, and for a visit to the orthopedic surgeon. Tori had offered to come with her, but it appeared her lapse into needing to be cuddled was getting to Jade, and her natural pride poked it's head up in outrage and reasserted itself.

There were two sides to that, Tori admitted. One, she was a little disappointed in being gently rejected. But two, it meant Jade was feeling better, and that was a good thing. She put aside the laptop and stood up, stretching out her stiff, and somewhat cramped body. Sleeping sitting up hadn't been restful, and the couch was less so. She strolled over to the window and looked out, resting her hands on the sill and leaning on them.

"What I should to is take a break, and run the stairs a few times." She decided. "Loosen myself up a little and get some exercise." With a nod, she went back and closed her laptop down, turning it off and slipping it inside it's padded backpack. She looked around, then shrugged and shouldered the pack, shifting it until it was comfortably centered on her back. "A little extra effort wont' hurt me any either."

She walked out of the room and straight to the stairwell, opening the door and letting it close behind her. Since they were on the top floor, she really only had one way to go, and so she started down the steps at a rhythmic, even pace. It was quiet in the stairwell, and clean. Tori decided it probably wasn't used much, since most of the movement between floors involved wheeled equipment or vehicles, which could get a little tricky going up or down stairs.

Halfway down, at the fifth floor, she met her first fellow walker, a young man carrying a thick bag who smiled at her as he dropped down the steps alongside. "Hi there."

"Hi." Tori replied, with a friendly smile.

"You new here?" The man asked. "Haven't seen you around."

Hm. Tori eyed him. He's a cutie. The man had curly reddish hair and a lithe, athletic build. "No, because I don't work here." She informed him. "I'm just visiting."

"Oh yeah?" He looked surprised. "I figured you were an intern or something, with that book bag. Sorry." A smile. "Well, that's too bad. My name's Curt." He stuck a hand out.

Tori took it, as they kept walking. "Tori." She produced her name. "It's a computer backpack, actually. I work with them."

"Yeah?" Curt released her hand. "You don't see many visitors taking the stairs either. " He looked down, and laughed a bit. "Or staff either, to be honest. I think you're the first person I've seen in here in weeks."

"You take them, though." Tori turned the corner on the steps and started down the next set. "Good exercise, right?"

"You bet." Curt agreed. "I have to get all the leg work in I can. I'm training for the Olympics." He grinned at her surprised expression. "I'm a gymnast."

"Really?" Tori turned her head to look at him. "That's wild."

"Yeah. It is." The man nodded. "I've been into it since I was a kid, but my folks could never afford me just going to school for it, so I've kept at it on the side. I'm going to the trials next year." He glanced over at Tori. "You look like you're into sports."

It suddenly occurred to Tori that she was being flirted with. Hm. And by a really cute guy, too. It felt… kinda cool, actually. "Oh, nothing official." She told Curt. "I just do some diving... swimming... climbing." She caught his very interested eye. "Martial arts, that sort of thing."

"I thought so. You've got great muscle tone." Curt grinned at her. "Ever try gymnastics?"

Tori suffered a flash of memory of her childhood, the arduous hours spent trying desperately to balance on a four inch chunk of wood. "When I was younger, yes." She admitted. "My parents thought it would make me graceful." She adroitly dodged a pipe sticking out of one of the stairs.

"They were right." Curt laughed. "Hey, I just have to drop this bag off.. you interested in getting a pop?"

"Wish I could." She softened the words with an honest smile. "Thanks for asking."

They'd reached the bottom floor, and he shifted his bag to his other shoulder, and held a hand out again. "Maybe next time, okay?"

Tori took it, and returned his firm handshake with one of her own. "Sure."

He turned, and pulled the door open, then ducked through and let it close behind him. Tori regarded the door for a moment, then turned and leaned against the wall, folding her arms over her chest as she rested a moment before starting her climb back up. That had been interesting, she mused, examining the sensation. It was nice, once in a while, to have someone think you were attractive, wasn't it?

Other than your partner, of course. Tori amended hastily. She'd never suspected Jade of thinking otherwise, had she? She thought about that, then blushed a vivid crimson remembering a certain night not that long ago when she'd looked up from working on a report in her home office, to find Jade watching her from the doorway, eyes half closed, her thoughts very evident by her expression. No, she was pretty confident that they were both very much attracted to each other. But it was nice to have a stranger give your ego a pat on the head once in a while.

Tori pushed off the wall and started up the steps. Besides, she grinned, he sure was a cutie. In fact, she thought. He reminded her of someone. Now who… ah. She nodded. That's right, Josh. She'd gotten an email from him that morning, saying he'd accepted her offer and was going to come to San Francisco.

Sorting through various other issues, Tori kept jogging upward, catching her wind and falling into an easy rhythm as her body adjusted to the exertion.


The machine buzzed softly. Jade kept her eyes firmly closed, and spent the moments roundly cursing herself for being a stubborn jerk for not taking Tori up on her offer of company. This was the third round of scans, and her nerves were beginning to twitch badly, wanting out of the machine, and away from the cold, impersonal hands that invaded her personal space and moved her body.

Hands gripped her chin and she jerked, her eyes snapping open and pinning the doctor standing over her with an angry glare.

"Okay, Ms. We.." The tall, willowy woman stopped speaking and removed her hands. "Sorry, did I startle you?"

Jade took a breath, and forced her irritation down. "No. I thought this was about done."

The doctor folded her arms. "Just about." She agreed, wrinkling her well shaped nose in thought. "You don't much like being touched, do you?"

Jade scowled a little at being so easily read. "Not much." She admitted. "No." At least this doctor, Alison, was her name? Wasn't the usual condescending iceberg type. "Sorry."

"That's all right, Ms. West." Dr. Alison reassured her. "Some people aren't - we're so used to just grabbing what we want and pulling, we forget that sometimes. Could you tilt your head up and to the right?"

Jade complied, watching the woman make adjustments to the machine. The doctor was taller than Tori, but couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds, so thin Jade was sure she'd blow away if the air conditioning cycled too strongly. Her white lab coat hung loosely on her, and the wrists that extended from it seemed barely wider than two of Jade's fingers. The machine whirred again.

"Okay." Dr. Alison looked down at Jade. "We're done." She pushed the machine arm back and leaned on the padded table Jade was lying on. She had a high forehead, made all the more so by a hairstyle tightly pulled back into a knot, and hazel eyes that contrasted nicely with her dark brown skin. "Why don't you sit up, and let me take a look at your shoulder, okay?"

Jade obliged, tensing her abdominals and pulling herself upright then swinging her legs over the edge of the table. She hopped off and stood upright, startling the doctor who took a step back.

"Oh." Dr. Alison made a face, then smiled. "Somehow, patients always look shorter lying down. I didn't expect you to be that tall." She gestured towards a side room. "Why don't we go in there so you can sit "

Jade followed her in silence, taking a seat on a lower, but also padded bench in the examination room. She was still wearing her sling, but they'd allowed her Tylenol for the nagging headache, and she felt pretty good at the moment. "Well?"

Dr. Alison had been reviewing something on a computer terminal, and now she looked up over the screen at Jade. "Well, you want the bad news first or the good news?"

"Bad." Jade replied instantly.

"You know, Ms. West, I'd thought you were going to say that." The doctor laughed. "Okay, well, the bad news is that you've got a lot of swelling in that shoulder. Aside from the bone bruise, you also strained some of the tendons and muscles around there, and everything's pretty tense."

Jade ran that over in her head and decided it didn't sound life threatening. "Okay. "

"You're going to need to do a lot of physical therapy, to get the blood moving in there and get the damaged bits out." Dr. Alison told her. "It's going to hurt."

"And?" Pain was something Jade could live with. She'd worked through enough injuries in her years of martial arts, after all, and while she never enjoyed the process, she knew ways of getting past it. She watched as the doctor left her console and came over, carefully unsnapping the sling to release Jade's arm.

"I need to see what kind of range of motion you have, okay?" Dr. Alison waited for Jade to nod, then she took hold of Jade's wrist, and slowly lifted her arm. "Let me know when it starts to hurt." She first flexed the arm at the elbow, then gently pulled upward, getting no reaction from her wary patient. "Okay, that's what I thought. Now I'm going to move out to the side, and I think that's where the problem is going to be."

Jade nodded and shifted a little, straightening up as the other woman carefully extended her injured arm out to the side, then started to lift it. About halfway, Jade let out a sound somewhere between a cough and a hiss, and the motion stopped.

"Okay." The doctor examined the angle. "Well, that's not too bad, actually." She sounded surprised. "Given what I saw in the pictures, that's pretty darn good." She put Jade's arm back down and started poking at her shoulder, touching and prodding the skin with absorbed interest. "You have a very well developed deltoid here."

Jade's brow lifted. "Thanks." She eyed the woman warily.

"I don't think I've seen a structure like this on a female in a while." Dr. Alison added. "You're not doing steroids or other anabolics, are you?"

Jade glared at her. "Absolutely not."

"Just asking." The doctor replied mildly. "No offense intended, Ms. West. A lot of people do, you know. In my line of work, I deal with an enormous number of athletes. It's a standard question." She walked over and checked her screen. "You have an incredible bone density, did you know that?"

How was she supposed to know that? "No." Jade replied.

"Well, you do." The doctor typed something. "That's a good thing. It's what kept you from getting hurt worse. You take calcium supplements?"

Jade's brow creased. Supplements? "No, I just drink milk."

"Can't stand the stuff myself. Lactose Intolerant" Dr. Alison shook her head. "Well, good for you, Ms. West. You weight train, correct?"

"Yes."

The doctor nodded. "Okay, I just need to get some stats on you so I can send them to the therapist. Could you take your shirt off please?"

It suddenly occurred to Jade why she'd always been more comfortable with male doctors, an interesting moment of self revelation that almost made her start laughing. "What stats does a therapist need?" She asked, standing up and pulling her t-shirt off over her head one handedly. It left her in a pair of gym shorts and nothing else.

"Oh, height, weight, limb len.." Dr. Alison stopped speaking for a second as she looked up. "Wow."

Jade's eyebrow went right up.

"You have great body structure." The doctor continued enthusiastically. "You have almost perfect symmetry, did you know that?" She picked up a tape measure and trotted over. "Outstanding."

Jade didn't know whether to feel like a show horse on parade, or what. She held her arms out when told, and felt the tickle of the tape measure as it was run across her back.

"I thought so. Seventy four inches. " The doctor towed Jade over to a scale. "Let me get your height and weight." She pushed the height bar up, and stood on her tip toes to let the top of it rest on Jade's head. "Seventy two and three quarters. Yep, I knew it." Next, she ran the weights across and nudged the smaller one back and forth until the arm balanced in the center. "One fifty six." She nodded and scribbled. "That about normal for you?"

"Give or take a few, yes." Jade replied. "Why?"

"Just curious." Dr. Alison finished her writing, after measuring Jade's upper and lower arms. "Okay, we're done." She looked up, reviewing Jade with an air of scientific satisfaction. "Very nice bones, Ms. West. Congratulations."

Jade picked up her shirt and slipped it on. "Thanks." She muttered. "But I think it's my father's fault."

"Really?" Dr. Alison smiled. "Are you a daddy's girl? Everyone tells me I am." She straightened her papers and slid them into an envelope. "I hate that. Don't you?"

Jade picked up her sling, and looked at it, then glanced up at the doctor. "No." She said. "I've always considered it a compliment."

"Well, you're just a lucky woman, then." The doctor held a hand out and gripped Jade's. "Good luck, Ms. West. Keep up what your'e doing, and I guarantee you'll be rock climbing into your seventies." She nodded briskly. "Any questions for me?"

Jade cocked her head. "Yeah. One." She drawled. "If you think what I'm doing is so great, why don't you do it?"

Dr. Alison blinked. She glanced at herself, then at Jade. Then she laughed, a touch sheepishly. "I'm a doctor." She grinned, and shrugged. "We never listen to our own advice." With a wave, she left the room.

Jade straightened up and looked around at the now empty room. Okay. She'd gotten her head examined several times, and apparently her arm wasn't going to require amputation. A smile appeared. That meant she could get her ass out of here, and go home. She went to the door and peeked out, seeing no sign of her solicitous orderly with his ready wheelchair. "Heh." Jade planned her route, and slipped past the nurses station towards the doors.


"Damn." Tori felt the strain as she hit the seventh floor, her breath coming short and her legs starting to really burn. "That's what you get for slacking off at the gym for the last month, Victoria. You're one lazy bitch when you want to be." She sucked in a deep breath, and pushed through the discomfort.

It annoyed her. She'd kept her running up, hadn't she? Every morning, without fail, there she was at Jade's side in the early morning cool air. So, okay, she'd cut back on the climbing wall to let her shoulder heal, and they were between martial arts classes, but still. Tori scowled. She'd even kept up with Jade lately… hey. A thought occurred to her. Was Jade slowing down on purpose, and letting her do that? Jade wouldn't do that, would she?

Not to make Tori feel better, right? White teeth chewed on a lower lip. Okay, but maybe she did it just to have company, how about that? Jade would do that, right? Slow down so they could talk to each other, like they'd started to, using that time to go over problems at the office and plan their day.

Hmm. Tori reached the eighth floor and turned the corner, feeling her heart rate starting to climb. So here she thought she was cruising along, doing so well. "Looks like I'm going to just have to try harder, that's all," She panted, forcing herself to leap up the next set of stairs two at a time. She rounded the corner and swung a little wide, a little out of control towards the door that led to the ninth floor entrance. She put out a hand to steady herself, then suddenly blinked as the solid surface started to move towards.

Tori tried to stop, but her momentum was too much and she ended up crashing into the opening door, knocking herself senseless as she reeled backwards dangerously close to the steps behind her. "Oh!" She fought for balance, reaching out for the handrail but the sweat on her hands betrayed her and she started to fall.

And then, just as suddenly, she wasn't falling. She was caught and held in a powerful grip, and her senses scrambled to reconcile the abrupt presence of Jade's distinctive aura surrounding her. "Ow."

"Hey." Jade's voice confirmed her dizzy revelation. "Tori? Victoria!"

Oh boy. Did I do something wrong? Tori felt her knees buckle, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground, it's cold hardness pressing against her legs, with her upper body cradled in a nice, warm, very Jade smelling nest. She blinked a few times. "Didn't know seeing stars wasn't just an old saying." She stuttered the words out. "Ow."

"Easy." Jade's voice sounded worried. "Take it easy... why are you breathing so hard? Honey? Look at me, okay?"

Tori obeyed, tipping her head back and opening both eyes, very glad she did so when she was rewarded with Jade's concerned face inches from her. "Wow." She finally felt her heart rate start to calm. "Are you ever a sight for sore eyes." She lifted a hand and gingerly felt her forehead. "Or a sore head."

Jade stroked her face gently. "What in the hell were you doing?" She asked. "You're all wet."

"You have that effect on me." Tori joked faintly, getting a halfhearted smile from her lover. "I'm all right. It's just sweat. I was running the stairs."

Jade tugged her shirt sleeve over, and wiped the droplets of sweat out of Tori's eyes. It was warm in the stairwell, and the smaller woman was still breathing hard. "Can I ask why?"

Tori took a long, shaky breath, then released it. "Seemed like a good idea at the time?" She gave Jade a wan smile. "I was just working the kinks out - getting a little exercise." She settled her back against the wall, and untangled her feet from Jade's.

"And…?" Jade shifted to a more comfortable position. "You decided to make it a decathlon event instead?"

"No." Tori dredged her self disgust back up. "I was getting tired after seven measly flights, and it pissed me off." She admitted. "I"ve been telling myself what good shape I'm in. Hah." She forced a laugh out, and rolled her head to one side, gazing at Jade. "I'm a wuss."

"Sweetheart." Jade laid her good arm over Tori's shoulders. "Our floors at work are eight feet high." She said. "The ones here are twelve. You just ran up the equivalent of about fourteen flights of steps at full speed."

Tori gazed at the steps, then tipped her head back and looked up. "Oh." She felt like an idiot. "Really."

"Mmhmm." Jade gazed fondly at her. "So you're entitled to be out of breath. I would have been." She leaned forward and stuck two fingers into the collar of Tori's shirt, pulling it outward and peeking inside. "Besides, I really like the shape you're in."

Tori looked down, then up at her. "Really?"

"Really." Jade released the fabric, transferring her touch to Tori's face. She traced the rounded cheekbones and snub nose delicately, examining the crystal clear hazel depths of her wife's eyes. "You are the most beautiful person I've ever known."

It was amazing. Tori felt a little fuzzy happy ball settle inside her stomach, it's tickling presence causing a smile to spread across her face, gaining an immediate echo on Jade's. How could a sterile scented stairwell be this romantic? "Thank you for telling me that." Tori leaned forward slightly and brushed Jade's lips with her own, then made a more solid contact. "Especially since I feel like a slimy, skanky old pair of gym socks right now so I know you're just saying that to make me feel good." She gave Jade a wry smile.

Jade studied her in silence, a tiny furrow appearing in her brow. "I most certainly wasn't."

"Jade, c'mon." Tori nudged her. "Don't sit there and pretend I'm attractive sitting here all sweaty and covered in hallway dirt." She held up a hand, which was almost black, then blew her disheveled hair out of her eyes. "I'm a mess."

"I think you missed my point." Jade replied. "Tor, you'll always be beautiful to me, no matter what you look like."

Tori gazed back at her seriously. "Do you really mean that?" She asked. "No matter what? Even if I.. shaved my head, and put on fifty pounds and got a tattoo across my neck that said Budwieser?" Her kept her tone light, but she felt the anxiety as she watched Jade's face, twenty five years of her mother's voice hammering into her conscience.

"Hm." Jade cocked her head, giving the vision it's due, and sober consideration. "Nope. I think I'd have to draw the line at the Bud tattoo." She said gravely. "Maybe Corona, I could live with."

Tori smiled, and dropped her gaze, more relieved than she was willing to admit.

"But as for the rest, yes, I do mean that." Jade tipped Tori's chin up and forced eye contact. "We're not going to look like this forever, Tor. I don't know how you feel about it, but I want you to know I don't give a damn."

It was ridiculous, Tori decided, that they were having this absurdly critical discussion sitting in a hospital stairwell. But Jade's speech deserved an answer. "All my life I've had it hammered into me that appearance is what matters." She said. "And I'd always hoped that… " A light shrug. "Being in love would mean more than just being physically attracted to someone." She met Jade's eyes. "For me it is. There's something about you that has captured me completely, and I hope it never lets go."

Jade nodded slightly.

"So, I don't give a damn either." Tori went on. "I know I joke about it a lot.. maybe it was just that I bumped into a cute little gymnastic boy and he stroked my ego for me."

Jade eyed her. "When was this?"

"On the way down the stairs." The blond woman admitted. "He admired my muscle tone."

"Ah." Jade settled back against the wall. "Well, I just had a good looking young woman tell me to take all my clothes off." She eyed Tori's profile, which went suspiciously, suddenly still save the flaring of her nostrils.

"And?" Tori asked.

"And I spent the next ten minutes being told what a lovely specimen I was."

Tori's eyebrow lifted.

"Did you know I have dense bones and perfect symmetry?" Jade asked, arching a brow of her own.

"Who is this person?" Tori half turned.

A puckish grin appeared. "The orthopedic surgeon."

"Tch." Tori started laughing. "A lovely specimen, huh?"

Jade chuckled. "Nice muscle tone, huh?"

They both simply laughed for a minute. "Oh my god, Jade. I'm sweaty, and I'm tired, and I want to go home. Are they letting you out yet?" Tori finally said.

"They'd better be." Her partner replied. "C'mon. Let's go share a sponge and call Dr. dodie." Jade stood carefully, and held onto Tori's arm as she joined her. "Thought I saw a tube of that bath soap in your bag."

"The mango one?" Tori put an arm around Jade's waist as they climbed up the steps towards the tenth floor.

"Mm."

"You thought right, my little subtropical perfect specimen."

Jade snorted, then reached down and pinched Tori's butt. "Oh yeah, that's nice tone all right."

"Ouch! You wench!" Tori felt her spirits rise into the bubbly range. "Wait till we get to that sponge. You'll be sorry."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."