Just... whatever.

Seven

Tori nudged the door to their room open, and peered inside. "Whoa." She chuckled as she entered, tossing her overnight bag down on the king size bed. "Definitely more colorful than your average Marriott."

Jade closed the door. She eyed the peach walls, strongly patterned carpet, and rich fabrics on the windows and bed with a half grin. "I like it." She decided. "Wouldn't want it in my bedroom, but it's nice for a change." She put her own bag down and reviewed the rest of the room. It had a nice, high peaked ceiling with a fan, and a dual vent to remove the hot air from the room. The windows were large, and featured a gorgeous view of the half circle bay and the atmosphere was light and airy.

Tori went to the window and looked out. "Nice." She turned and leaned on the sill, watching Jade take off her sunglasses and toss them on the table. Bob had scampered off to take care of his business when they'd docked much to Tori's relief, and she was looking forward to exploring the resort's interesting offerings. She'd spotted kayaks, among other things, and seen mention in the lobby of a rum tasting demonstration.

"Very nice." Jade lifted a bottle of complimentary rum from the sideboard and held it up. There was also bottled water. "Use this." She cautioned Tori. "I've had mixed results drinking from the tap."

"Ah. Thanks." Tori said. "Not having phones was a surprise, though."

"Mm." Jade examined the discrete data port. "Internet access but no phones. Incredible."

Tori went to the locked, distressed leather briefcase Jade had put down on the chair. "I guess we've gotta bite the bullet, huh?" They'd agreed not to unlock the case, which held their cell phones and Laptops, unless a total crisis was at hand.

"Yeap." Jade tossed her the keys to the briefcase. "Probably better off using ours anyway." She watched Tori unlock the catch and open the case, sticking her hand inside and emerging with one of their two phones. "I know there's phones outside in the lobby, but.. "

"Yeah." Tori tossed the phone to her. Then she wandered back over to the windows, discovering a patio outside. "Hey." She opened the door and went out onto the stone edifice, alternately splashed with sunlight and the shade from nearby banana trees. It was quiet and peaceful, and the view of the water was really spectacular. "Breakfast out here tomorrow, I think." Tori mused, as a breeze off the water puffed her hair back out of her eyes.

With a satisfied grunt, she turned and went back inside their pleasant room, finding Jade sprawled across the king size canopy bed with the phone to her ear. The sight was so attractive, Tori decided to join her, and she crawled over to where Jade was lying, flipping over onto her back and settling there as she watched the fan circle lazily overhead.

"That's right, Sinjin. Just run it for me." Jade inched her hand over and tugged a bit of Tori's hair. "I don't have registration number."

"Right, boss. How's the vacation going?" Sinjin's voice trickled from the cell phone's speaker.

"Aside from nearly being heaved to by pirates, and Tori saving a drowning man in a storm, it's been pretty peaceful." Jade replied blandly. "How's it been there?"

Long silence. "Did you actually fucking say pirates?" Sinjin asked. "Holy shit, Jade!"

"You didn't really think I could just have an ordinary vacation, did you?" Jade asked, with an amused smirk. "You didn't answer my question."

"Huh?" Sinjin spluttered. "Oh, here? It's been dead." He told her. "Honest."

Jade waited silently. To pass the time, she blew gently in Tori's ear, and watched her torso shiver as she held back a laugh.

"Well, just the usual shit, you know, boss." Sinjin finally admitted. "Nothin you guys need to worry about."

Tori turned her head at that and her brown eyes widened. "Sinjin?" She raised her voice. "You just made me really nervous."

"Um…"

Jade covered her eyes. "Sinjin, just spill it." She sighed.

"Honest, guys. Just more of the usual." Sinjin insisted. "We got some international lines down, and one of the northwest data centers crashed. I had to overnight them a bunch of stuff."

Tori eyed her partner. "Doesn't sound that bad." She mouthed.

Jade shrugged. "Did the new DC nodes come in?"

"Yep." Sinjin sounded relieved. "Hey… listen. I'm glad you called for one thing – we got an early drop date for the new backup IPC."

"Whoohoo." Tori pumped her fist in the air.

"Incredible." Jade agreed. "I thought we'd be waiting until February." She added.

"Well, boss – nothing came back on those guys." Sinjin said. "Not on the first run – you want me to keep going?"

Jade frowned. "Nothing?"

"Nothing on that name, no – or the two other names you gave me." Sinjin said. "But that's just a DMV and Marine reg – I'll do a deep run on em. You want me to give you callback?"

"Yeah." Jade said. "We're going to…." She paused. "What are we going to do now, Tor?"

Tori lifted both hands in the air and produced an engaging grin.

"We're gonna do something probably involving water and or food." Jade said into the phone. "I'll keep the phone on. Let me know if you find anything, okay?"

"Will do, boss." Sinjin said. "You guys have a great time, huh? No more freaking pirates!"

"Do our best." Tori called out. "Thanks, Sinjin. Tell everyone we said hi!"

Jade hung up the phone and let it rest on the covers. Now that she'd started her query in motion, she felt satisfied to let it take what time it did, and concentrate on resuming her vacation in the meanwhile. "Want to just hike out and explore the place for a while?" She asked. "We're in the middle of the National Park here."

Tori nodded. "I like that idea." She said. "It's so pretty. Reminds me a little of that hammock down by Old Cutler we went to that one time." She sat up. "Okay – on with the hiking boots, then." She patted Jade's leg. "Let's go find us some pretty lizards."

Lizards, they found in plenty along with other wildlife. Jade gingerly examined a vivid, bright green snake curled on a branch, taking care to keep her hands far away from it. "Did you see this?" She asked Tori, who was busy taking a picture of some gorgeous flowers.

"See what?" Tori trotted over and peered. "Oh!" She quickly brought her camera up and focused. "Hey, aren't you going to grab its tail and tell me what a beauty it is?"

Jade glanced down. "Does wearing khaki shorts and hiking boots require me to channel Steve Irwin?" She asked.

Tori snickered.

"Tell you what tail I'm gonna grab." Jade waited for her to snap the picture, then acted, grabbing onto Tori's tail and making her hop forward with a startled squawk. "Isn't she a beauty?" Jade mimicked. "Lookit the bottom on that one!"

"Bitch." Tori reached behind her and tickled Jade's ribs, then continued down the path. They were surrounded by lush greenery, and a rich, organic smell filled her lungs as the wind stirred the branches slightly.

The jungle around them thinned ahead, and revealed a mossy, stone covered building. "Look, Jade." Tori motioned towards it. "Is that one of the sugar mills?"

"Must be." Jade lead the way towards the structure. It was just a pile of old stone now, a mixture of coral foundation and crudely made brick. They climbed onto it, and looked around. Jade imagined she could still smell the tang of raw sugar cane, something she'd last tasted as a young child. "You ever chew sugar cane?" She asked Tori.

"Me?" Tori was kneeling next to a piece of machinery long overgrown with ivy. "You're kidding, right?" She looked over her shoulder at Jade. "One, I don't think it grows in Connecticut, and two – my mother would have cut the hands off anyone giving it to me." She paused. "Have you?"

"Sure." Jade grinned. "The best is to get a nice piece, chew it a little, then dunk it in your lemonade."

Tori's gaze went inward for a moment, as she worked out the potential tastes, then she wiggled her eyebrows and licked her lips. "Mm." She got up and snapped a picture of the bit of machinery. "That does sound really good."

Jade wandered over to a row of old, wooden basins nailed into the walls with rusted iron spikes. The mill had made sugar for sale, and for the rum and molasses that had been the reason for the island's colonization. Slaves had worked here, under increasingly brutal conditions until they'd eventually risen up and conquered their masters, driving the plantation owners out and leaving the island to peacefully stagnate until modern times and modern tourism.

"Must have been brutal working here." Jade mused, touching grooves worn in the wooden sinks from countless wrists resting on them, washing the cane.

"Mm." Tori agreed, imagining the sweltering summer heat. "Yeah it's awful what used to be acceptable."

Jade frowned. "I'm so glad they did what they had to do to end their misery." She advised. "Wow, did you see that?"

"What is it?" Tori examined the huge wheels curiously.

"Grinding stone." Jade explained. "They put the cane between that and ground it up, to get the sugar syrup out."

Tori smirked at her wife's marveling at ancient engineering and leaned over and sniffed the stone. "Just smells like mildew now." She said. "It's hard to believe that a place like this, as full of misery as it must have been, produced something so many people regard as a treat."

"Yeah." Jade agreed. "Speaking of, lets get out of here. I want to go have our sandwiches?"

They picked a spot on the edge of the coral foundation, away from the sight of the plantation. Jade didn't really understand why people like her lingered in a space where others were tortured. Only thing she could stand about it was that Slaves here had the fortitude to fight back. It was the fight she could understand. Tori for her part, saw the Caribbean strength from what Jade had told her. Proud that her background was originally from here. "We should really stop in Puerto Rico on the way back." Tori stated. "I want to show you where I'm from."

Jade looked at her and sighed. "I…."

"Alright Jade, what's your deal with Puerto RIco?" Every time I bring it up you get this look in your eye.

"You remember when I told you about Telling Shari how I felt?" Jade said and Tori nodded, waiting for her to go on. "I had planned this whole Trip… Spent all of the savings I had then set aside as I built the company. I was going to surprise her at that dinner, and when she laughed at me…"

"That bitch."

"When I went to the shore that night, I had the tickets on me. I ripped them to shreds and scattered them in the pacific."

"Oh, Honey… That's not Puerto RIco's fault." TOri said, putting her hands on Jade's face and stroking her cheek. "Let's go there and eat great food and meet my people…"

Jade swallowed and shook her head. "Yeah… Of course." She would do anything for this woman.

Tori frowned. Every thing she heard about Shari enraged her more and more. They continued to walk to their spot. Tori's thoughts turned inward.

After Jade spent a moment making sure they weren't about to sit on any snakes or scorpions. Tori opened the pack Jade had been carrying and removed a thermos bottle and two neatly wrapped packages. She set the thermos down and unwrapped the sandwiches, revealing crusty French bread wrapped around spicy shrimp salad.

"Wow." Tori handed Jade hers. "This looks great. All this hiking made me hungry."

"Mmph." Jade had already taken a bite. She uncapped the thermos and poured out a capful of its contents, taking a sip and passing it over to Tori. "Coconut and passion fruit. Interesting."

"Very." Tori washed down her mouthful and took another. She kicked her heels against the foundation and looked around, enjoying the food, the view, and the utter freedom of being in an unknown place with the person she loved best in the world.

"They've got horseback trails. " Jade commented hopefully. "Interested?"

Tori glanced at her knowingly. "Make a deal with you." She bargained adroitly. "Horseback riding one day, wind sailing the next?" She didn't quite have the enthusiasm Jade did about horses, but then Jade didn't quite share her love of wild water sports.

However. Compromise was good. It was a learning process, like everything else was, but slowly they'd worked out a way to balance their differences.

Mostly. Tori acknowledged wryly. There were still some things they were working on. "Deal?"

"Okay." Jade wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. She leaned back against the ruined wall and relaxed, while Tori finished up her lunch, the Latina resting her elbow on Jade's knee. "A lot of people come out here and camp in the park."

Tori watched an ant the size of a Jeep walk by. "Good for them." She said. "I admire their courage and fortitude."

Jade watched the ant, almost jumping when the tiny animal was suddenly attacked by an almost invisible lizard, whose tongue whipped out and tethered the ant before the insect could even twitch its antenna. The lizard sucked the ant back in and casually chewed it, rotating an eye to peer up at Jade with benign disinterest.

"Ah." Tori blinked. "Mother Nature in action." She held a hand out towards the lizard, and it reciprocated by opening its jaws wide, displaying bits of dismembered ant as well as a double ridge of tiny razor teeth. "Yikes." She murmured. "Makes you feel really insignificant, doesn't it?"

Jade reached over lazily and with a quick motion, captured the lizard. It struggled wildly as she brought it back over to her face. "Listen, buddy." She growled at it. "Don't threaten my girl, or I'll make lizard burgers out of you, got me?"

Tori had to laugh, at the bug eyed look on the lizard's face.

"I don't care how many rhino sized ants you suck up, you don't scare me." Jade warned, as the lizard stuck its tongue out at her. "So beat it." She opened her hand and released the animal. It leaped off her hand and onto her shirt, then scampered up over her shoulder and onto the nearest bit of wall.

Tori leaned against Jade's knee, and gazed adoringly at her. Jade smirked, and managed a self-deprecating chuckle.

"Hey, Jade?"

"Yeah?" Jade let her head rest against the wall.

"Anyone ever tell you you're a lot of fun?"

Jade considered. "No, no one's ever said that." She replied matter-of-factly. "I have been told I'm like being in a phone booth with a dozen porcupines in heat, though."

Tori kissed Jade's knee, then laid her cheek against it. "My question to whoever said that would be, of course, 'how do you know?"

"It was Elle."

"Ah. That explains a lot." Tori grinned, giving Jade's leg a squeeze. "Well, you are a lot of fun, and I'm so totally enjoying this vacation."

Jade grinned wholeheartedly back at her. "Me too." She agreed. "Even with the pirates." She leaned over and kissed Tori gently on the lips. "I'm glad you're having as much fun as I am."

They rested there a few minutes more, then resumed their hike. Jade shouldered the pack and cinched the straps down, and they started off up a path that was now noticeably getting steeper. "Hey." Jade observed. "It's a hill."

"Sure you can handle it, Dixiecup?" Tori teased.

"Wanna find out?" Jade grinned. "Let's race." She broke into a jog.

"Pooters." Tori sighed. "Someday I'll learn." She shook her head and chased after Jade, hoping it wouldn't be a really, really big hill.

"Urgh." Tori stepped under the pounding shower, scrubbing her body with a piece of natural sponge. She'd ended up their hike sweaty, covered in dirt, and full of leaves stuffed down her shirt courtesy of her lover, and the water felt heavenly as it washed away the grime.

But they'd had so much fun. Tori washed a smear of green off her shoulder. After she'd chased Jade up the hill, they'd rolled down the other side, across a short swath of rich green undergrowth and into a muddy embankment over a small creek.

She'd painted Jade with a thumb full of mud with tiger stripes across her cheekbones, and they'd ended up going headfirst into the creek as they wrestled playfully.

"Uck." Tori soaped up her hair, which the mirror had shown to be coated in mud. She watched the dirt rinse away down the drain, returning her locks to their normal color. Then she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, toweling her body off briskly before donning one of the thick, comfortable robes the resort helpfully provided.

She opened the door and walked into their room, ruffling her hair dry. Jade was standing near the window talking on her cell phone clad in nothing but a brief, though fluffy towel that just barely covered her long torso from armpit to thigh. Her damp hair was slicked back, and it was all Tori could do not to just walk over and remove the towel.

Instead, she merely sidled up to her partner, and waited until Jade made eye contact with her. "You look gorgeous when you're wet." She mouthed, causing Jade to stop in mid word, and blink.

"Uh…" Jade paused, her train of thought completely derailed. "Sorry, what was that, Sinjin?" She reached out and tweaked Tori's nose. "I got distracted."

"No problem, Jade." Sinjin said, with a stifled yawn. "Anyway, the long run came up with a ton of crap. I think you better take a look at it."

"What is it?"

A long silence. "I think you'd better look at it – maybe you can make more sense of it than I could." Sinjin answered.

"Hm." Jade glanced at the sun, which was painting the sky as it begun it's decent into the water's edge. "All right. Go ahead and bundle it, and send it down. I'll pick it up when I get back from dinner."

"Gotcha." Sinjin said. "Hey, everyone says hi. Mariela says to tell you everything's under control."

Jade gave Tori a look. "Good to hear." She remarked. "Thanks, Sinjin."

"No problem." The MIS chief assured her. "Take it easy, Jade."

Jade closed her phone, then focused her attention on the robe clad figure in front of her. "You, Victoria, are a little troublemaker."

Tori grinned unrepentantly. "I learned from the best." She poked Jade in the belly. "Did Sinjin find something?"

"Yeah." Jade nodded. "Apparently he did, but he didn't want to discuss it on the cell."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah." Jade seemed cheerful, however. "But I'd rather know what the hell I'm dealing with." She leaned on the window and gazed out. "Can I interest you in joining me at the Equator?"

"Is that the restaurant in the old mill?"

Jade nodded. "Seeing as you were so interested in the ruins, I figured maybe you'd enjoy eating in one." She picked up the colorful, cotton island shifts they'd gotten in the market. "And it'll give us an excuse to wear these outside our living room."

Tori held one of them, a flame red, green, and bright yellow pattern up against Jade. "Oh yeah." She grinned impishly. "I want to see you in this for sure."

Jade plucked wryly at the native garment "And be accused of appropriation? No thank you." She informed her lover. "I hope you realize that."

Tori paused and nodded. "I do. You're right." Tori threw her arms around Jade in an unexpected hug, overwhelmed suddenly by a wave of emotion. She squeezed Jade hard, hardly able to breathe for a moment.

"I appreciate the craftsmanship though. We should frame it and put it up on the wall at 's a great art piece." Jade murmured, returning the hug despite her confusion.

"Dear lord." Tori was surprised to feel the sting of tears. "How did I get so lucky to have found you?"

"Um." Jade got caught flat footed. "You got hired by a company WesTrek took over?" She offered, hesitantly. "Besides… I thought I was the lucky one."

Tori shook her head mutely, burying her face in Jade's bare shoulder.

Jade rubbed her back gently through the robe, simply holding Tori until she felt her relax. "Sweetheart." She murmured. "I'm glad you feel that way."

Tori sniffled, and just squeezed her harder. After a few more minutes, however, she exhaled, and tipped her head to one side, glancing up at Jade. "I'm not going crazy."

Jade stroked her hair back, removing the remnants of her tears with the edge of her thumb. "I never thought you were." She said. "We've just been through a hell of a lot together this year. You're entitled to a few freak out moments."

They were, it seemed, exactly the right words. Tori's face relaxed into a broad smile, and she gave Jade a very affectionate pat on the side. "Thanks, Dr. Jade."

Jade West, relationship expert and amateur psychologist. Jade felt a mental, slightly hysterical giggle coming on. "Anytime, sweetheart." She kissed Tori's damp head instead. "I'll always be here for you."

Tori felt a quiet resonance as she heard those words. They touched something deep inside her, and she felt her spirit calm in response to them as a smile appeared on her face. "I know you will." She replied. "And I'll always be there for you." Her head lifted, and she met Jade's eyes. "Thanks for understanding."

Jade felt like she'd been visited with a miracle, because in a very deep way, she did understand. Or, at least, she understood that Tori was hurting, and that she had the ability to stop the hurt and heal some of the pain.

That was a pretty damn nice feeling.

Tori squared her shoulders and released Jade, holding her briefly by her shoulders before she picked up the shifts again. "Well then, let's get our garish duds on, and go have some fun."

Relieved, Jade returned the smile. "All right, let's go." She leaned over and touched the floral basket. "You're not gonna make me wear one of these in my hair, are you?"

Tori glanced at the flowers, then at Jade. A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. "No…. That would be cultural appropriation. So you get out of that." She demurred.

"Oh thank god." Jade put her hands on her towel clad hips. "I don't think the culturally appropriate people wear these anymore either."

"Heh… but not too much on Caribbean culture." Tori grinned, her spirits restored. "C'mon. Let's go."

Jade Lifted her hands as if to say, I'm not the one that got this for us to wear.

The sun continued to dip lazily to the horizon, painting the sea in gold.