What did the find? What's in thedrive!!! I don't know.


Thirty One


Tori put the piece of paper down on her desk, and dropped into her chair, leaning forward and resting her head in her hands.

What a day. She scrubbed her face wearily. It was Thursday, Jade's first day back, and her lover had spent the entire time since seven am that morning holed up in the MIS command center, sequestered in a quiet, plain office around the corner from Sinjin's.

Refusing to take a break, even though Tori could plainly see she badly needed one. She'd taken off her arm sling and by the very messiness of the light brown locks framing her face, it was obvious she'd been running her fingers through her hair.

Always a sign of frustration, Tori knew.

So here she was, about to order in a pile of Thai food in hopes that, at least, would get her boss to kick back for a few minutes and relax. Tori reread the order, and quickly sent it on it's way after making sure she'd gotten everything down.

To be fair, Jade had been exceedingly good for three days. She'd kept her promise, and remained resting at home, though by halfway through Wednesday she was already prowling around the island and spending a couple of hours swimming in the heated pool.

Her headaches had disappeared, and she'd started to use her arm, careful not to over stress the shoulder joint. They'd gone out on the boat last night and had dinner under the stars, and Jade had remained alert the entire time, in fact she'd joked about naing the Vessel to make it easier to call the dockmasters when they traveled, then ended up driving the boat back after Tori had fallen asleep on the bow.

The pressure from Washington was getting critical, though. General Oliver had called twice, each time reporting the minor issues the security team had found, and the fact that he was under a lot of pressure to back off the project entirely.

Someone had gotten annoyed, it seemed, that a private company was prying into military affairs. If they didn't come up with something more significant than fouled up accounting and some black market supplies, the entire contract was in jeopardy.

So despite the fact that Tori thought the enforced rest was doing her partner a lot of good, she had to admit she'd been glad to have that tall form pacing at her side when she'd entered the building that morning.

The phone rang. Tori glared at it for a moment, then hit the answer button. "Operations. Tori Vega speaking."

"Good evening, Ms. Vega." Alastair's voice was cordial.

"Evening, sir." Tori replied. "How's New York doing?"

"About the same as it usually is, this time of year." Alastair replied. "Getting on to Christmas."

"Yeah." Tori perked up a little. "And close to Jade's birthday." She leaned forward. "You're going to send her a card, right?"

A little chuckle came down the line. "Oh, I'm sure she'll get a few of those. So, how are things there?"

Tori sighed. "Slow going." She admitted. "Jade's been at it all day, and to be honest, what she's doing looks like so much hex gibberish to me."

Alastair sighed as well. "Victoria, Jade's been hex gibberish to 90 percent of this company for fifteen years, so don't feel bad." He paused. "I'm getting a lot of pressure on this."

"Mm."

"It's not that anyone doubts what we did, but I got a call from the JAG's office today. They're considering filing a reckless endangerment lawsuit against us."

Tori glared at the phone. "Those pissants."

The Chairman chuckled dryly.

"I mean it." Tori replied. "They know something's wrong there, and they're just covering their friend's starched very drab butts."

"Y'know, I think some of your shyness is disappearing." Alastair commented. "Must be Jade rubbing off on you."

"I'm not shy." Tori reminded him. "I told Jade to kiss my ass, remember?"

"And she certainly did tak… " Alastair stopped abruptly. "Good heavens. I beg your pardon, Ms. Vega."

Tori blinked, also a little startled at the retort. "Uh.. that's okay." She told him. "I kind of opened myself up for that, didn't I?"

Alastair chuckled. "I try to be good." He said. "Anyway, as I said, I'm under a lot of pressure, here, Tori." He turned serious again. "They want a meeting tomorrow, in Washington. I'm going to have Hamilton get hold of that JAG officer and shake him up a little, but I'd really rather not go into the meeting…ah… "

"In nothing but your boxers?" Tori asked.

"He wears briefs." Jade's voice burred. "White cotton ones." She closed the door to Tori's office and walked over to the desk, hitching up the leg on her khaki cargo pants before she sat down on the edge. "Hello, Alastair."

"Ah. Hello, Jade." The Chairman replied. "Good to hear your voice."

One of Jade's dark brows lifted. "Why, you been listening to Elle again?"

"The Navy wants to sue us for reckless endangerment." Tori told her.

A chuckle. "Oh, really?" Jade leaned on her good arm and addressed the phone. "Who did a bunch of unarmed IS workers endanger, Alastair?"

"I don't know. I'm having Ham handle it." Her boss said. "Listen, Jade. I know you've been on this all day, but what's the word? Do we have something, or not?"

"Alastair, this isn't an google search." Jade answered, a touch testily. "It's a fifty Terabyte drive array that I'm having to reconstruct in hex sector by sector."

There was a reverent silence following this, as everyone gave the information it's due respect.

"And?" Alastair asked briskly.

Jade sighed, and rubbed her eyes. "I'm not done." She said. "But so far, so good."

Tori got up and walked around the desk. She put her arms around Jade and gave her a gentle hug, and a kiss on the cheek. "You are so my hero." She whispered in her wife's ear. "Can I be you when I grow up?"

Jade blushed, her fair skin darkening appreciably. "I can't promise anything." She muttered.

Alastair chortled. "Will you let me know tomorrow? They want me on the carpet at four in DC."

"I said, I can't promise anything." Jade repeated.

Alastair remained prudently silent. Tori gazed confidently at her. Jade sighed. "I'll call you tomorrow after lunch."

"Right. Have a great night, Jade." The CEO agreed. "Night, Victoria - nice talking to you."

Jade released the line and gave Tori a look. "One of these days, I'm not going to be able to deliver him the River Nile in a coffee cup and we're going to be totally screwed."

Tori smiled, and reached up to straighten the unruly, dark locks. "You look bushed, sweetie."

A nod. "I am." Jade admitted. She blinked, then rubbed her eyes again. "Ow."

Tori gently took hold of her jaw and tilted her head towards the office light. "Your eyes are all bloodshot." She informed her wife. "Hang on." She went to her desk drawer and retrieved a bottle of eye drops, then came back. "Hold still."

Jade patiently did as she was asked, watching the ceiling as Tori administered the treatment. She blinked as the liquid hit her eyes, stinging momentarily as her wife wiped the excess off with a fingertip. "Thanks."

"No problem." Tori capped the bottle. "These are designed for us, you know." She examined the label. "Imagine, an entire product line based around the IS industry."

Jade peeked at it. "Wonder if it's any different from garden variety Visine?" She rested her chin on Tori's shoulder.

"Probably not." A smile. "But I felt so virtuous buying it in Office Depot, along with that gel wrist pad I got you, and my new trackball."

"Mm." Jade straightened and stretched her back out. "You order dinner?"

"Yep." Tori looked up as her intercom buzzed. She reached around Jade's body and hit the key. "Yes?"

"Ms. Vega, this is security at the front door. Did you order something?"

"Oo. Nice timing." Jade purred into Tori's conveniently close ear.

"Yes, thank you. I'll be right down." Tori managed not to laugh. She released the button and turned, not moving away from Jade so that they ended up nose to nose. It was too easy not to just lean forward the additional inch so Tori did, and they kissed.

It was a very pleasant, sensual jolt that followed, and Tori found herself enjoying it a lot. It chased away the stress and exhaustion of the long day, and made her smile, especially when she felt Jade doing the same . "You know." She backed off a few inches. "I really like that."

Jade merely smirked.

"Stay here. I'm going to get dinner." Tori said.

"No." Jade patted her cheek gently. "Let me. I need to stretch my legs out. That chair in Sinjin's dungeon was made for a dwarf." She got up off the desk and headed for the door, before Tori could disagree.

Tori exhaled. "That crumb." She commented to the empty room. "She just conned me out of paying for dinner, didn't she?"


Ceci put the finishing touches on her canvas, as the light outside faded to darkness. She twirled her brush between two fingers and regarded her work, pleased with the results.

It was one of her new Island series paintings, done on the various trips she and Jim had taken in the boat, and she really liked this one because it showed just how wild it could get out there on the ocean.

One half of the picture was bright, and sunny, a little island perching in the green, lightly ruffled water with it's beach nice and white, and several children playing on it. A catamaran bobbed just offshore.

The other half was an incoming tropical storm, the sky pitch black and roiling, the sea dark gray beneath it, charging down on the island with an unthinking fury.

Nice. Ceci had taken a picture of it, before Jim had turned the boat and headed away from the storm, towards the small port in Hawaii they'd been staying at.

This was the last in the series, and she'd gotten a call twice this week from the gallery trying to coax out of her when they'd be ready. It was bizarre, really. When she'd been poor as a sidewalk cockroach, no one would look twice at her stuff. Now that she didn't need to sell a painting everyone wanted them.

Go figure. Ceci wasn't unhappy about that, after all, every artist wanted people to like their work, but it just seemed so unreal sometimes. With a sigh, she sat back on her painter's stool and glanced across the cabin to where Jim was sprawled across the couch reading a book. "Hey, sailor boy."

Sharp blue eyes lifted and met hers. "Yeap?"

Ceci got up and wandered over to him. "What are you reading now?"

James turned the book over so she could see the cover. "Trying to figure out that stuff Jade does."

Ceci peered at the book. "Troubleshooting Internetworking with multiple Topologies?" She repeated.

"Yeap." Her husband agreed.

Ceci sat down on the edge of the couch, and leaned on Jim's broad chest. "Sweetheart, do me a favor okay? Don't read anything in that out loud, because my head will explode." She peeked at a page. "Jimmy, this isn't even in English."

"Sure it is." But he put the book down and slid an arm around her waist instead. "Ah just picture Jade saying them words."

Ceci traced a little circle on the fleece fabric covering his chest. "Jimmy, you know what I was just thinking?" She looked up and studied his face, weathered and scarred, and so full of character he was almost a painting himself.

"No ma'am, but I figure I will shortly." Jim drawled.

She smiled. "I was thinking about how lucky we've been, you and I."

Her husband nodded thoughtfully. "We surely have been." He answered softly. "I was thinking on that the other day when we were by Jade's, looking around at that nice place she got, and how happy she and Tori are."

"Mm." Ceci made a sound of agreement. "It's so nice to see her happy." She looked up as her hand was suddenly folded inside a much larger one. "It's so nice to be happy." She leaned forward and put her head down on Jim's chest, and he enfolded her in his arms. "Jade was right. You never know what you have until you lose it."

James took a deep breath, and let it out. "Yeap." He closed his eyes and hugged her to him. "That is so true."

They lay quietly together for a moment. "Y'know." Jim finally said, in a quiet voice. "When I was stuck over there in that damn place, I'd save up bits and scraps and such, and hold em all till your birthday."

Ceci felt the tears start.

"Lord, I missed you." He stated very simply. "Can't tell you how many times I wished I'd just damned died."

She took a shaky breath. "Thank the goddess you didn't." She stroked the skin on the inside of his forearm, and traced the long, thin scar there. "We don't have to worry about dying now, Jimmy." She said, "We've both already been to Hell."

A soft snort. "Ain't that the truth." He rumbled. "Now we got Heaven to go through." He tweaked her ear, and when she looked up, he wiped the tears away. "And ah suspected we landed us a chunk of heaven right here."

Ceci smiled. "I suspect you're right, James." She slid up and kissed him, then looked straight down into the pools of his eyes. "I love you."

For a moment, a look of quiet openness peered back at her, and she saw a distinct echo of their daughter in it. She leaned down and kissed him again.

And again.

He curled a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her forward easily. "Love you too." A low rasp tickled her ear.

Heaven? Ceci grinned giddily. Yeah, maybe.


Jade leaned against the elevator wall, watching the numbers count down. As it was after hours, the annoying music that usually played in the contraption was turned off, and she could hear the hum and shush of the mechanism as it worked.

"You're not going to think about getting stuck in this thing, West." She told her reflection sternly.

The elevator seemed to hesitate, as though it was considering stopping. Jade glared at the panel, and narrowed her eyes. "Don't you even think about it." She rumbled, in a low growl. "I'll take you apart and make you into a toaster."

The chastened device obediently kept moving.

Jade smirked at her reflection, her upper body encased in a crimson short sleeved shirt tucked into her cargo pants. They reached the bottom floor and the doors opened, allowing her to exit into the large, empty lobby. She took a relieved breath and walked across the marble floor and past the fountain, towards the security station where she could see a guard talking to a man in casual clothing.

At her approach, the guard turned. "Oh. Ms. West." He blinked. "I thought Ms. Vega was picking this up."

"Nope." Jade gave the delivery man a brief smile, and handed him her credit card. He swiped it efficiently in a handheld device, and offered it to her for signature. She reviewed the bill, then added a tip and signed it. "Thanks."

She accepted the box of food, it's spices already sneaking out and tickling her nose. "Back to the mines."

The guard chuckled. "Good to have you back, Ms. West. We missed you."

Jade swiveled, and regarded the man, whom she might have seen all of twice. "Why?"

The man blinked at her. "Pardon me, ma'am?"

"Why the hell would anyone down here miss me?" Jade asked curiously. "Is there a rumor going around that I bring in doughnuts or something?"

The guard looked around, then took a few steps closer to her. "No, ma'am, but everyone knows when you're here, no matter what happens, we're okay."

Jade studied him in mild surprise. "Everyone knows that, huh?"

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Interesting." Jade turned and made her way back to the elevator, supporting her tasty smelling box with her good arm, and balancing it with the other. She punched the button for the tenth floor and watched the doors close.


They ate in the ops center, with Jade leaning back in her uncomfortable chair, her feet propped up on the desk and her container of spicy chicken and rice nestled in her lap. Tori was perched on a box of computer paper next to the desk, and Sinjin was sitting on an old mounting rack.

They were alone, and it was quiet, the only activity around them in the operations control room itself just around the corner behind its secured door. At 8 pm, the office building was emptied of its staff, and only the computer support group was left to tend the servers and provide support for the other offices around the world.

Sinjin selected a pea pod, turned it around so the small end faced him, and took a bite. "This reminds me of the old days, boss."

Jade chuckled. "The bad old days, you mean?" She deftly used her chopsticks to transfer some chicken to her lips. "I spent so many damn hours in this room."

Tori looked around. "This room?"

"This used to be Jade's office." Sinjin supplied, with a grin. "I remember whatshisface… that John whatever his name was, that used to be the CIO? Remember when he came in here and saw this place the first time?"

Jade snorted. "Oh yeah. Took one look at the posters on the wall and nearly laid a load in his pinstripes." She looked around fondly at the small space, it's walls at an odd angle due to the room's position in the corner space. "Took one look at me and hauled ass right back to New York to plead that they remove me from leadership.

"Didn't help you had your favorite uniform on." Sinjin grinned.

"It was after hours." Jade demurred. "I was going clubbing after work."

Tori had been watching them, her eyes moving from one to the other like she was at a particularly interesting volleyball match. "Was this during your rebellious phase?"

Jade waggled an eyebrow at her. "Before this was WesTrek." She took a sip of Thai coffee. "I had on biker boots with more chains dangling from them than you'd see in two days at the Westminster Kennel Club."

Tori covered her eyes as her shoulders shook.

"Mmhm… those were nice." Sinjin agreed. "I have a pair." He chewed thoughtfully. "Without the chains. They get stuck in my gears. But I think it was the muscle-t that spooked him worse."

Jade chuckled, and shook her head. "It's a mystery why the hell I wasn't sidelined that week. What was it, the mainframes in Boulder that time? That whole gaming center went down, and they dragged me into it right before I was leaving. Damn, I was pissed." She sighed ruefully. "The bad old days. Things sure have changed."

Sinjin looked up at his boss, who had removed her light jacket and was slouched in her chair in a tank top and cargo pants, with hiking boots parked on the desk's surface. "Uh.. yeah." He tilted his head and studied her. "You make a lot less noise when you move now."

Tori almost snorted soup out of her nostrils as she burst into laughter. Sinjin started chuckling too, at the expression on Jade's face.

"Hey!" Jade gave them an injured look. "I did grow up, remember?"

"Sorry, Jade." Sinjin apologized. "I know it's a different world now, but I miss those days sometimes." He looked contrite. "I didn't really mean you look like a teenage punker anymore."

"Mmph." Jade appeared mollified. "Yeah, I do too sometimes." She admitted. "Long days, but we had some good parties, didn't we?"

Sinjin nodded, sucking on the end of his chopstick. "The night you guys were stuck in that hospital, we had the television in here. Sixteen of us crammed in here most of the night watching."

Jade fell silent, concentrating on her container. Tori watched her face for a moment, then picked up the conversational ball where it had fallen, and rolled between her feet. "That was a pretty scary night." She said. "I don't remember a lot of it, the details are really blurry."

"You had a concussion." Jade stated quietly. "It's probably best you don't remember most of it." She picked out more chicken bits and ate them. "Just a lot of smoke, and loud noises, and heat."

They ate in silence for a moment. "Were you scared, boss?" Sinjin asked, suddenly.

"You bet your ass I was." Jade replied without hesitation. "Anyone with half a brain cell would have been." She glanced up at him. "Why?"

A shrug. "Just curious. I know I was scared pissless just watching the coverage." He replied. "You guys pretty much just got to that room, then busted out though, right?"

"Right."

"No."

Jade looked at Tori, who had replied negatively. One eyebrow lifted. "No?"

"Well." Tori leaned her head back against the wall. "I remember the explosion." She looked off into the distance. "I remember waking up, and hurting."

"Dislocated shoulder, right?" Sinjin commented.

"Yeah." Tori nodded. "Jade put that back right, then we had to crawl out of where we were, and through this little tunnel." She looked at Jade, who was studiously avoiding everyone's gaze, and busy decimating her chicken. "It collapsed on us and we almost died."

Sinjin stared at her. "No shit?"

Jade looked up. "Thought you didn't remember details." She remarked wryly.

"I just remembered that." Tori murmured. "Jesus Christ, Jade. You saved us." She stared at her lover in bemusement. "How in the hell could I have forgotten that?"

The pause was awkward this time. Sinjin cleared his throat. "Shit like that happens with concussions, I guess. That's what I've always heard."

Tori felt her arm hairs lift as the memory cleared, and she pictured the image of that tiny space, with it's smell of concrete dust and their sweat and blood as the wall pressed in on them. She could almost feel the labored heaving of Jade's back under her weight as her lover struggled to breathe, and the sudden, distinct surge as her body had arched, ready to break them out of their prison.

And in that moment, Tori remembered with eerie clarity now, she'd had no shred of doubt that Jade would do just that. "Yeah." She agreed with Sinjin's comment. "I guess it does. Glad I finally shook that memory loose, though." A conscious lightening of her tone, on seeing the tenseness in Jade's shoulders. "Anyway, it was an experience I never want to repeat. I was never so glad of anything as I was to put my feet on the ground after they rescued us."

"I bet." Sinjin chuckled, getting up from his seat. "Hey, I'm going to grab a coke, want one?"

"Sure." Tori agreed. "Jade?"

"Sure." Jade nodded.

Sinjin slipped out the door, leaving so quickly it almost seemed like an escape.

Tori waited a moment, then stood up and walked over to where Jade was seated. "Hey."

Jade looked up at her from under dark brows, and slightly shaggy bangs.

Tori knelt. "He's not very subtle, is he?"

It was the right approach. Jade's lips tensed, then curled into a wry smile. "No." She drawled softly. "He's not." She put her food container on the desk and rested her chopsticks on top of it. Then she leaned on her chair arm and gave her wife her undivided attention. "So."

"You didn't tell me about that." Tori put a hand on Jade's arm, and rubbed her thumb against the skin of it. "You told me about the wall, and the window, and the children, but not that. Why?"

Jadek eyelashes fluttered closed over Jade's eyes. "Maybe I didn't want to remember it." She said.

Tori thought about that, as she watched Jade's face. "Okay." She leaned forward and brushed her lips against her lover's "I can buy that." She readily agreed, saving her thoughts for a later time. "But, thanks."

"Anytime." Jade replied, with a smile. "Now go back and finish your dinner, so Sinjin can skulk back in here safely."

Tori stuck the tip of her tongue out, but got up and resumed her perch. "What's the next step?" She consciously raised her voice a little. "On the data restoral."

Jade laughed silently. "Once I finish the structural rebuilding, we have to run data patterns, to make sure the damn thing actually works, and I didn't put a piece back in wrong."

Like a genie, Sinjin appeared in the doorway, carrying three cans of soda. "Hi." He gave them a cheerful look. "I'm back." He handed around the cans. "Damn AC is going goofy again, Tor. I think they need to change those filters."

Tori sniffed. The air held a distinctly musty scent. "Son of a…" She sighed. "What is that, the fourth time this year? Where did they get the ac plant for this building, Jade, Sam's Club?"

Jade sighed. "You can't lay that one on my doorstep." She resumed eating her chicken. "One of Alastair's fishing buddies long lost fourth cousins twice removed got the contract on this building, and I've had nothing but trouble from it since we moved in."

Sinjin shifted. "You thinking of going somewhere else when the lease is up? I heard rumors."

"Maybe." Jade admitted. "I've got a couple of proposals on my desk.Presidio's got the best one, and they're promising me everything including a private elevator and my own grizzly ."

"in the Historic district?" Tori teased. "I thought you liked the one you have."

"Gotta be a down side." Jade admitted. "And yeah, I do, but I'd be willing to give it up for someplace I don't have to have maintenance on three days a week."

"Presidio? I like it." Sinjin approved.

"You live there." Tori pointed a chopstick at him.

"Gotta catch a break sometime."

"Maybe the rest of us don't like fighting tourists on the way to work ."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Can we wait to start this debate until I pick a spot?"


Jade peered at the screen, and studied the algorithm. "Okay." She typed in a command, and viewed the results. "I think that does it."

Tori leaned on the back of her boss' chair and looked. "It's done?"

"Yeah." The sandy haired woman rubbed her eyes wearily. "What time is it?"

"Two." Tori supplied, shifting as she reached around and started a gentle massage of Jade's shoulders. She'd tried to get her wife to quit for the night some four or five hours ago, but had no luck. "Jade, your neck feels like a suspension bridge."

"I bet." Everything ached. Jade wished she could sneak in another round of painkillers, but it had only been two hours since the last set, and her stomach was already queasy from the medication. The throbbing in her arm was so bad, she almost couldn't feel the pressure from Tori's hands, though the warmth was definitely noticeable through the fabric of her shirt. "Sinjin!"

"Yeah?" Sinjin stuck his head around the corner. "I got the links set up here. Hang on… you done?" He came into the room dragging several large cables behind him. "You wanted a patch directly into the big box, right?"

The mainframe, which ran a custom program designed by Jade herself, and was isolated from the rest of WesTrek giant network. It could analyze the structure of a database design and take it to pieces, and she'd used it on many occasions to locate not only holes in a newly acquired company's databases, but hidden defects that could cause problems during integration.

"Right." Jade murmured. "I think I got it back together."

Sinjin cocked his head. "You think?"

A shrug. "Far as I can tell." In truth, her eyes would no longer focus on the screen, and she'd been going by instinct for the last little while. "Let's find out."

Sinjin and Tori exchanged glances. "Now?" The MIS Manager queried. "It can wait till the morning, boss."

Jade merely shook her head, eyes closed. "Not with Alastair booked on a flight at one." She disagreed. "If we don't have anything, we need time to get our asses covered."

Another exchange of glances. "Well, it'll take me a little while to get all the connections secure, and the ports configured." Sinjin temporized. "You wanna take a break for a few minutes?"

"Sounds good." Tori agreed quickly. "How about a cup of hot chocolate?" She tweaked Jade's ear. "I've got a tin of dark Godiva upstairs."

Hm. Jade didn't feel like resisting the offer. "Okay." She slowly got up and stretched, wincing at the audible pops. "Jesus, I'm getting too old for this."

Tori rolled her eyes out of Jade's range of vision. "C'mon, Grandma. I'll race you up the stairs." She put a hand on Jade's back and gave her a gentle shove towards the door. They ended up, however, at the elevator which was obediently standing open awaiting them. "Ah. Our chariot." Tori remarked. "Unless you'd really rather walk."

"Nah." Jade ambled inside, and pressed the button for the fourteenth floor. She leaned against the wall while the elevator rose, then followed Tori out as the doors reopened. "Wish it was this quiet all the time." She glanced around at the dim corridor, empty of even the cleaning staff by this time. "I think they vacuumed up here tonight."

Tori wrinkled her nose at the scent of carpet dust mites clawing through the air. "Yum. Remind me to talk to the cleaners about using HEPA filters in those damn machines, will you?" As though in retaliation, her body expressed it's displeasure in a sudden sneeze. "Yeesh. Listen, go on over to your place. I'll make up the hot chocolate and bring it over, okay?"

"Okay." Jade agreed quietly, turning to her left and heading towards her office, while Tori turned to the right. She swiped her keycard in the outside lock and pushed the door open, then continued on through her outer office and into her inner one.

It was very quiet inside. Her pc was turned off, and just the wall rim lighting was on, leaving the office in mostly starlight. Jade stood inside the door, then glanced to her right and decided the couch looked pretty good. She dropped onto it, then swung her legs up and laid down, stretching her body out fully with a sense of weary relief.

It was a good choice. The cool leather warmed to her skin quickly, and she let out a soft groan, now that she was alone and didn't have to put on a good front for the troops. It wasn't as comfortable as her couch at home, but it was a damn sight better than that office chair, and the cool quiet of her surroundings soothed the ragged edges of her temper.

After three days of lazing around at home, you'd think I'd have more energy than this. Jade scowled up at the ceiling. She hadn't slept that much since the last time she'd broken her leg and they'd given her percodan for the pain. All right, so it was two in the morning, and they'd been here since seven, but so what? Used to be she could do thirty six, or forty eight hours running and not feel this worn out.

Yeah. Jade had to laugh at herself. Back in the days when you used to live on Jolt and Hershey bars and you never went home because there was nothing there to go home to. She gazed out the window at the stars. Isn't it nicer now that you're a grown up with a life?

And someone to share it with?

She never even heard Tori come in. The touch on her arm startled her, and her eyes popped open, to see her wife crouched next to her, holding a steaming cup in one hand. "Oh. Sorry."

"Don't be." Tori put the cup down on the end table, and smiled. "I almost didn't wake you up."

Jade gave her a puzzled look. "I wasn't sleeping." She protested. "Was I?" She rolled up onto one elbow and captured the mug, taking a sip of the sweet chocolate. "Mm."

Tori patted her arm. "Well, you were giving a pretty good impression that you were. Maybe you were just resting your eyes, hm?" Her lips quirked.

Jade's quirked back. "No, I was sleeping." She admitted. "My head's killing me. I should just pack it in and go home, but I really want to see what we've got in this thing." She took another sip then set the mug down, licking her lips appreciatively.

"I know." Tori said. "Tell you what… why not just sack out here, while Sinjin does his thing? A nap couldn't hurt you, could it?" She suggested.

Jade studied her, as a slow smile edged it's way across her face. "You know something, Vega?"

Tori blinked at the address. "Uh.. what?"

"You're a pretty damn good Ops VP."

Confusion colored Tori's expression. "Um.. thanks." She replied hesitantly. "What got me that compliment?"

"Your engineering of a very slick maneuver that ended up with my ass on this couch."

Tori pointed a finger at her own chest. "Me?" Her brown eyes widened innocently.

Jade smiled. "Don't give me that sweet yankee routine, short stuff." She extended a hand lazily and gave her lover a poke in the belly. "Yes, you."

Tori's smile went from innocent to seductively triumphant. "Yeah, that was pretty slick, huh?" She chortled softly. "But I wasn't lying.. there's the chocolate to prove it." She pointed. "I just know you."

"Mm." Jade wriggled into a more comfortable position and sighed. "Yes, you do." She closed her eyes. "Don't try to lengthen this by running a redundant loopback test on those ports, okay? Just wake me up when we're ready."

Tori's eyes twinkled gently. "You got it boss." She got up and took a seat in the chair next to the couch, cradling her own mug in her hands. Sinjin would take, she knew, about an hour to get things ready, regardless of how long it actually took to connect the systems together. By then, maybe the nap would help, and Jade would be able to take a few more aspirin. Tori sighed. She didn't like it. She wished they were home, but she knew how important this was to Jade, and pushing her to slack off wouldn't be either appreciated or heeded at this point.

She just hoped the results were worth it.


"Is that it?" Tori watched the monitor. "It's all ready?"

Sinjin pulled his head out from under the console, and grunted. "Yeah." He agreed tiredly. "You know what, Tor? I think I'm the one who's getting too old for this crap. I used to be able to do all nighters. Not anymore."

The brunette chuckled wryly. "Yeah, me too." She leaned against the machine. "I hope this is worth it. Or it's going to be one very long day tomorrow."

A nod. "Yeah, but you know we won't really know for a few hours, right? The first run will just tell us if Jade managed to pull something out of that mess intact. It'll take the program about five... six hours to parse through everything and spit out a report."

Tori stared at the screen. "What do you think?"

Sinjin fiddled with his pen, then shrugged. "Hard to say. If anyone could, it'd be Jade, but I think she was fighting this one." He glanced at Tori. "That knock on the head still bugging her?"

"A little." Tori admitted. "I think it's a little of everything. She's stuck between everything hurting, and not wanting to take the pills for it because they knock her out." She said. "Just being in pain exhausts you."

"Well, the first stage will just take a little while." Sinjin said. "Ten minutes, maybe."

"Ah." Tori hadn't known that. "Good." She nodded. "Then we can all go home after we start the run, right?" Nap or no nap, Jade needed to go home and rest. Hell, Tori rubbed the back of her neck. I need to go home and rest. I'm bushed.

Sinjin sat down on the desk. "Well, theoretically, yeah." He agreed. "But I dunno, Tor. This whole project's got my jeebie meter spiking to max. I don't want to leave this thing running by itself. I'll stay here and watch it." He glanced around. "I keep expecting some dude dressed in black camo to come out of the walls and zap me."

The darkened building was a little spooky, Tori had to agree. What if the people who they suspected figured out they might have kept some information? Would they try to get at them? All sorts of wild scenarios started to play out in Tori's mind. What if they really were smugglers? What if they were connected with someone really bad, like the Columbians?

"Tori?" Sinjin leaned forward and waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Yoohoo?"

"Huh?" She blinked. "No, I was just thinking. What if you're right? What if these people do try something? It's not like we're set up for airtight security around here."

"You think they will?" Sinjin asked nervously. "For real?"

"They were shooting for real back there." Tori stated. "I don't know. " They stared at each other uneasily.

The floor creaked outside, making them both jump. "Shit." Sinjin squeaked. "Shut the door!"

Tori felt her heart rate double, and she turned, realizing that the door opened outward, and she'd have to go out into the corridor to pull it shut. "I think we're letting our imagination get out of hand." She stated. "But maybe that's not a bad idea." She edged towards the door, peering out into the darkened area beyond. "No one could get in the com center, right?"

"Uh." Sinjin's nostrils flared. "Not like your average Joe Delivery Boy, no, but I'm sure the military has all kinds of crap to get around our security."

Tori paused in the doorway, looking out. It was silent, desks and chairs crouching dumbly in the gloom. Nothing moved. Tori suddenly became aware of a dark, silent object near the ops center door she didn't remember being there earlier. She stared at it.

Was that breathing she heard, or was it just the AC? She took a step out, and her eyes seemed to detect a motion from the still object. "Sinjin." Tori tried hard to keep her voice steady. "Come here." She reached for the doorknob, and heard a creak. A hand touched her back and she yelped, then scrambled for the door.

Suddenly, the entire ops center came alive in a a shocking blast of flourescent light. Tori slammed herself backwards, knocking Sinjin flat on his ass behind her and swung the door shut with startling violence.

She threw the deadbolt on the door and got back away from it, not trusting even the reinforced steel. "Shit."

Sinjin had crawled out of her way and ducked behind the desk. "You know, they never mentioned this in MIS 101." He muttered. "Let's call the cops."

"Good idea." Tori joined him behind the desk and pulled her cell phone out.

They heard a sound on the other side of the door and froze, staring in horror at the lock.

It started to turn, a low rasping sound that ended in a distinct, harsh click as the bolt retracted.

The door opened. They ducked behind the desk. A voice split the silence.

"What in the hell are you two doing?"

Tori lifted her head and peeked over the desk, her body almost dissolving in relief as she recognized the powerful tones. "Oh." She managed a wan smile at her wife. "Hi, Jade."

Sinjin started laughing in nervous relief. "Shit."

Jade entered the room and pushed the door open, crossing over to them and taking a seat on the desk. "Do I want to know what just happened?"

Tori got up and dusted herself off. "Overactive imaginations." She admitted, with a sheepish grin. "We started wondering if… Well, anyway. There was a noise outside, and I looked, and I saw something I didn't recognize.. " She walked to the doorway and peeked out catiously. "Ah." Her eyes found her threatening intruder, now masquerading as an innocent, if covered, overhead projector nestled in the corner. "Sorry. I was about to come wake you up."

"Mm." Jade was amused. She watched Sinjin stand up and brush himself off. "If we're done playing Miami Vice, can we run the test now?" She'd woken a short time earlier, and spent a few moments splashing water on her face in the bathroom, resulting in a state of reasonable alertness.

Sinjin blushed, then started up the interface. "All yours, boss." He rubbed his butt cautiously. "Damn, you got a hearty forward block on you there, Tori. Ever think of trying rugby?"

"Sorry." Tori just laughed. "I just wanted to get the door closed."

Jade stepped around the desk and sat down, flexing her hands a little before she accessed the program files and started the analysis running. She reviewed her command line, then hit enter, and folded her hands together calmly, watching the screen.

Not much was going on. A little asterisk in the corner spun. Lights on the black box indicated it was being accessed by the mainframe.

"How long should this take?" Tori asked quietly.

"Depends." Jade said. "It's a fairly complicated structure." She watched the screen tensely. "A lot of things could have gone wrong. One glitch in the line during transfer, and the entire matrix can get thrown off. Without every key in place, the whole thing…" Jade stopped and stared at the console, which was now blinking a result at her. "Damn."

Structure Valid.

Sinjin let out a whoop. "Hot damn is right." He slapped the desk, making both of them jump a little. "Boss, you rock!"

Jade was frankly very surprised. She cocked her head at the screen, as though not quite believing what it said. Given the complexity, and her own state of scattered concentration, she'd had her doubts as to whether she'd gotten all the sequencing right. It had seemed more and more likely, as the night wore on and she'd had to redo her actions more frequently, that she'd made a mistake and would have to start all over again. In fact, she'd been pretty damn sure of it.

Well, apparently she wasn't as decrepit as she'd imagined.. "That's good news." She remarked calmly. "Now the hard part starts." She rapped her head with her knuckles, then assembled what she wanted to do and typed in a second command to her system. "Go."

The asterisk returned, but this time Jade slumped back in her chair and relaxed.

"Now we wait, right?" Tori perched on the corner of the desk. "To see if we have anything."

"Right." Jade agreed. "We wait." She paused, and looked around the office. "Listen, no sense in all of us sticking around."

"No." Tori agreed. "Sinjin said he'd stay and watch."

Jade had opened her mouth to continue, and now she closed it, giving them both a dour look, realizing she'd been outflanked. "If I didn't know better, I'd suspect I'm being coddled."

"Nope.' Sinjin jumped in. "I figured once this sucker runs, and barfs up the results, you're the one who gets to figure out what it means." He said. "So the least I could do is watch the pretty lights flash for ya."

Jade looked at him, then at Tori, who looked back at her with a gentle smile. "Okay." She dropped her hands onto the chair arms and pushed herself to her feet. "C'mon, Tori. Let's get a couple hours sleep." She turned towards Sinjin. "Want me to double lock the doors?" She teased Sinjin, with a rakish grin. "I think I heard some phantom chicken men outside."

Sinjin cleared his throat. "Nah.. I'm fine. G'wan."

Jade nodded. "Thanks." She lifted a hand in a half wave. "Call me if anything doesn't look like it's going right."

"Will do." Sinjin settled in the chair Jade had just vacated, and leaned back. The door closed behind them, leaving him in peaceful silence.


Being home felt good. Tori scrubbed her teeth industriously, turning as she felt a warm body nearby. "Hfero Chirf." She greeted her pet, who was standing up on her hind legs peering into the mirror with Tori.

"Argorf." Chino barked, very glad to have her family home.

"What are you guys doing?" Jade wandered into the bathroom behind her and snuggled up, putting her arms around Tori's stomach. "Giving her pointers, Chino?"

Tori spit out her mouthful of toothpaste. "No, she's showing me you didn't quite get all the blackberry sauce off her face" She pointed at the mirror. "How on earth did she get into the refrigerator, Jade?"

"Opposable paws." Jade picked up one of the Labrador's feet and examined it, getting a kiss for her pains. "Glad you didn't leave that container of pasta sauce on the bottom shelf." They'd come home to find purplish blobs everywhere, and a suspiciously meek looking dog trying very hard to look innocent with a face covered in jam.

"Bad girl." Tori scolded their pet. Chino cupped her ears and folded them downward, in an expression only a Labrador could come up with, looking soulfully at Tori all the while. "Oo.. you think you have me so fooled, don'cha?" She had to laugh at the hopeful tail wag. "Spoiled brat."

Jade chuckled, and rested her chin on the top of Tori's head, hugging her and swaying a little. "Mm… bedtime for nerds?"

Tori spent a moment just absorbing how wonderful it felt to have Jade hugging her. Then she turned round in her wife's arms and the sensation trebled as she slid closer and returned the hug. "Mm." She took a breath filled with the scent of clean cotton and Jade's distinctive smell. "Definitely bedtime for nerds." She took a step forward, and guided Jade towards the waterbed, tumbling into it with a sense of exquisite relief.

Jade immediately curled around her, capturing her in a net of long arms and longer legs, creating a warm nest she snuggled into, letting out a pleased murmur of contentment.

Jade reached over and turned the light off, ignoring the clock which reminded her it was after four. Then she resettled her arm over Tori, who snuggled closer and sighed, warming Jade's chest with a minty scented breath. The still nagging aches faded, and she closed her eyes as her body relaxed at last.

What would the analysis come up with? She wondered drowsily. She'd thrown the dice on capturing the data she had, hoping it would deliver to her the mechanism they'd been using to move the funds around that she'd seen in the accounts. But what if it didn't? Jade felt Tori's breathing even out and slow as her partner fell asleep, becoming deep and regular. Curiously, she found herself unconsciously trying to match it.

She thought about that for a moment, then returned her attention to their problem. Or at least, that's what she'd intended to do, but sleep snuck up on her, ambushing her best intentions and taking her out before she could form another thought.