That little dive was fun. and they got away with it too fun things.

Nine

Jade didn't even bother with the front door this time. She pulled the Lexus around to the back and parked in the loading dock, hopping out and slamming the door as Tori did the same. They strolled over to the entrance in companionable silence and ducked inside.

It was much less chaotic, and much more organized, Jade noticed at once. She paced slowly down the aisles of now completed booths, giving the odd security guard now on duty an amiable look as she passed them.

Their booth was relatively in the center of the room, and she circled it entirely once before she entered the neatly made up space. "Nice." She commented to Tori, who was checking out the locked case full of routers and switches. "Everything look good?"

Tori walked to one of the sets and brought it up, coding in her password and running a few quick commands. "Looks very good." She said. "Decent throughput."

Jade leaned against the center column with her hands in her shorts pockets, admiring the contrast of Tori's sun gilded skin against the white cotton of her shirt. The sleeves were rolled up, and the shirt was tucked into her worn denim shorts and Jade found the whole picture quite appealing. "Know what?" She drawled.

"What?" Tori looked up inquisitively.

"You're gorgeous."

Tori's sunburn deepened several shades, and she glanced around the room before she produced a grin. "Um.. thanks." She murmured. "What brought that on?"

Jade shrugged. "Just an observation. Are we getting a two meg download?"

Tori blinked. "What?" Her brows creased for a long moment before she realized what Jade was talking about. "Oh… um." She looked back at the screen in confusion, then punched a few more keys. "One point eight."

"Good enough." Her partner decided. "We're streaming locally anyway. At least I hope we are. Check to see if the marketing nitwits downloaded the mpegs." She wandered over to the far side of the booth, examining the colorful brochures curiously as Tori bent over the console again.

A door slammed, and Jade lifted her head at the sound, turning and peering across the center towards the front of the room. She spotted the two figures entering and only just stifled the impulse to grab Tori and disappear, reasoning that they'd have to face off against their two adversaries sooner or later.

But there was no point in rushing the confrontation, so she merely went back to examining the marketing literature.

"Jade?" Tori's low voice reached her.

"I know." Jade answered calmly. "Just do your thing."

Tori sat down in the nearest seat and continued her parsing, examining the file structures of the presentations they'd sent out from the office earlier that day. Her ears were perked, though, as she listened to the footsteps wandering through the hall which would, she knew, eventually end up right where they were.

She grinned, just a little, and cracked her knuckles.

Michelle stopped as she reached the edge of the booth and waited for the two women inside it to look up.

When they didn't, she cleared her throat. "Well, well."

Tori glanced up from her screen. "Oh, hi." She greeted their guest cordially. "C'mon in."

Michelle availed herself of the invitation and stepped inside the booth, circling the desk Tori was at and taking a seat on the edge of the console. "Hello, Jade." She peered at the booth's second occupant and paused.

"Hi." Jade rested her chin on her fist and looked up briefly, then went back to studying the settings she had been investigating. "How's it going?"

Somehow, it wasn't the reception Michelle had been expecting. "Damned good, actually. Bet you're surprised to see me here."

"Not really." Tori finished checking her screen, and moved to another one. "You guys get everything taken care of? We heard there were some problems last night… I thought your booth looked pretty well together."

"Our booth?"

"Mmhm.." Tori indicated the Telegenics display a few rows down. "I like the lcd scrolling – it's nice." She tapped a few keys, and clicked twice with her mouse, reviewing the results. "There, that's better. Did you adjust that, Jade?"

"Uh huh." Jade responded. "Put prioritization in and filtered out some of Sinjin's crap."

"So you liked our stuff, huh?" Michelle decided to go with the flow of the conversation. "Glad to hear that. We worked hard on it, just like we've been working hard on getting new accounts around here. You must have noticed that too."

Tori sat back and gazed thoughtfully at Michelle, then she turned her eyes to Jade, who had looked up and was now twiddling her thumbs at her workstation. Jade shrugged. "Are you? Well, congrats, then." She replied.

"So, you didn't noticed we took eight of your accounts from here?" Shari stepped around the pylon and confronted them, leaning on the counter right above where Jade was sitting. "Hello, Jade."

"Hi." Jade responded, without budging an inch. "Business is business, I figure. You win some, you lose some." She tipped her head back, meeting Shari's eyes evenly, feeling an inward sense of embarrassed relief when her guts didn't clench even a little.

After a long moment, Shari looked away first, ostensibly turning her attention to Tori. "That the way you see it too, Ms. Vega?"

"Is there any other way?" Tori queried. "We've got lots of competitors."

Michelle and Shari exchanged quick glances. "Well, that's great." Michelle said. "Frankly, we were hoping you'd feel that way. I mean, yes, we're competitors, but we've all got a lot in common, don't we? It'd be nice to do some friendly networking for a change." She smiled at them. "Matter of fact, we were hoping you both would be here today. We checked in a few times, but didn't see you around."

"Nah." Jade leaned back and extended her long legs, crossing them casually at the ankles. "We came in and did our part last night. We've been relaxing all day."

"At the parks?" Michelle smiled again.

"Like you were, huh?" Tori indicated the Goofy shirts they were wearing. "It was a beautiful day, wasn't it?"

Shari glanced down at herself, and her face twisted into a half grimace. "Yeah, well, we love shopping." She muttered. "Never can have too many of these."

Jade slid her hand up, covering the grin that threatened to appear on her face. It was hard for her to bring back up that feeling that she'd always gotten when she'd thought of Shari, those nightmares that had chased her for so long until she'd met Tori and they'd fallen in love with each other.

"Listen." Michelle wrested control of the conversation back. "We just dropped by to make sure things were ready before we headed back to our hotel. You two free for breakfast tomorrow? Maybe we can chat then."

I'd rather eat Donald Duck jello eggs on toast with a pack of mimes. Tori hesitated, trying to recall what their schedule was for the following day. The convention started at ten, so… She looked at Jade, reading the resigned set of her eyebrows and the faint twitch on either side of her mouth.

Tori wrinkled her nose slightly, and saw the wry twinkle appear in Jade's eyes. "I think we're free for breakfast, aren't we? Unless you promised marketing we'd meet with them." She gracefully gave Jade an out anyway, and waited for her decision.

"I can't take Elle before coffee." Jade replied. "Yeah, we're free." She glanced up at Shari. "Where are you staying?"

"The Sheraton across from here." Shari answered warily. "But their restaurant is pitiful."

"Ours isn't." Tori said. "Why don't' you meet us there? It's the Grand Floridian." She flipped off the monitor she'd been working at and stood up. "They've got great banana stuffed French toast." She let her hands come to rest on her hips and cocked her head at them. "Eight all right? We get up early."

Jade folded her arms over her chest, content to let Tori hack and slash her way through with her charmingly piratical good manners. "Yeah, that's early enough to miss the characters. I don't want to scare Pluto again." She remarked with an easy grin.

Michelle appeared as though she'd sucked on a sour orange. "Sure." She finally agreed. "We'll meet you there." She got up and stepped out of the booth, giving Shari a backhanded slap on the arm. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

Tori perched next to Jade's seat and watched them leave, casually leaning her wrist on her partner's shoulder. "I think we scored." She remarked as they walked through the entrance and out of sight. "You were right, Jade. That was exactly how to handle them. Good call."

"Oh yeah." Jade closed down her connection and stood, stretching her body out. "Round one to West and Vega, Ding ding." She added. "But now we've got round two at eight am tomorrow."

"Yeah." Tori sighed. "What a way to ruin perfectly good French toast. " She slipped her arm around Jade's waist as they walked together towards the rear door. "You know, Jade, I really don't like Shari."

"Oh, really?" Jade opened the back door and held it as they exited.

"Really." Tori took a breath of the warm, humid night air. "In fact, I'd like to take a set of cat five crimpers and clamp the end of her nose with them."

Jade looked at her. One eyebrow lifted. "What would that do?"

"Make her scream like a cat in a blender." Tori replied, with a firm nod. "Start my day off just right."

Jade's nostrils flared. "Remind me not to piss you off, okay?" She draped an arm over Tori's shoulders. "You just made my nose want to run off to Denver."

Tori just chuckled, and shook her head.

"Thanks." Tori scribbled her name on the room service check and handed it back to the waiter, then closed the door after him as he slipped out into the hallway. On the table near the window he'd left a tray, which had a large white china pot, two cups, and a plate full of chocolate dipped strawberries.

Tori inspected the tray, lifting the lid on the pot and sniffing appreciatively. "Mm." She put the lid back down and dusted her hands off, turning her back on it and heading for the bathroom.

Jade was inside, applying aloe to her shoulders which were a deep, burnished color half tan and half sunburn. Tori took the bottle from her and smeared the stuff across her back, rubbing it gently on the patches between the straps of her swimsuit. "You got toasted, honey."

"I feel it." Jade seemed embarrassed. "Next time remind me to put my damn sunscreen on after I get out of the water, willya?"

"Sorry. Thought you had." Tori winced at the red marks. "My fault. I should have checked when I had you put some on me."

"Your fault?" Jade chuckled softly. "I could have remembered when I was putting some on you." She flexed her arms and turned, taking the bottle and putting a little on her fingers. Then she carefully painted Tori's face with it, tracing the pink skin over her rounded cheekbones. "You got a little toasted too."

"I sure did." Tori let her hands rest on Jade's hips. "But you know what? I had a great day. The dive was stupendous, and scaring the poo out of those two was so choice."

Jade grinned. "Yeah, it was." She admitted. "A little juvenile, though."

"So was their trying to make trouble last night." Tori stated. "So there."

"So there." Jade leaned over and kissed her, tasting a hint of lip balm as she explored Tori's mouth. "I am starting to wonder now what they're up to, though." She added. "The bitchiness I understand. Them being nice is scary."

Tori took her hand and tugged. "Well, let's give em the benefit of the doubt, Jade. You never know – maybe they decided to grow up too."

"Mm." Jade followed her willingly. "Like us, you mean?"

"Exactly." Tori paused and indicated the tray. "So, grownup. Wanna share some hot chocolate and berries with me?"

They walked to the table hand in hand. Jade gazed down at the treats with a smile, picking up a piece of apple garnish and taking a bite of it. "What more could any woman ask for?" She inquired, around her mouthful of apple.

"Share." Tori stood on her tiptoes and closed her teeth around the apple slice, and they both nibbled towards the center, giggling as their noses bumped and they fought over the last scrap of it.

"Whoops.." Jade rolled her tongue around a small, hard point. "Seed."

"Where?" Tori caught the pink appendage in her teeth, surprising Jade into releasing the seed into her mouth. "Ah! Got it!" She pulled back and swallowed the seed, sticking her tongue out a few times like a lizard. "Mm."

Jade laughed. "Did you just swallow that?"

"Yup." Tori picked up a strawberry chaser and bit into its chocolate shell ruthlessly. "I heard a story once that if you swallow an apple seed it makes the tree of knowledge grow inside you."

"Um."

"Here. Don't think about it. Just eat." Tori offered her half a strawberry. "It was a goofy story, but it's better than the other one I heard."

Jade chewed her berry contentedly. "That it makes you healthy, wealthy and wise?" She hazarded a guess.

"That it makes you pregnant."

Jade spit a bit of berry halfway across the table and nearly inhaled the rest of it. She covered her mouth as a laugh erupted from her. "Maybe I should have swallowed that then."

Tori Giggled and patted her back solicitously. "Told you it was goofy. You'd be surprised at what you end up being taught in Sunday school that far north, honey."

"Jesus… remind me to throw some of our education budget up there, will you?" Jade buried her face into Tori's shoulder. "Before they start teaching Cabbage Patch creationist theory."

Tori gave her a kiss on the head, and exhaled happily, patting Jade's cheek when she lifted her head up. "Will do." She brushed Jade's cheek with her lips. "But they threw the book away when they came up with you."

Jade poured out two cups of hot chocolate, lifted hers, and clinked it's edge against Tori's when she picked her own up. "Here's to us." She looked into Tori's eyes. "To hell with everyone else."

Tori took a sip, and gave a kiss. "I'll drink to that anytime."

Jade settled her balance, gripping the bar on the weights with both hands at shoulder width and pressing her back against the weight bench. Slowly, she lifted the barbell clear, and lowered it, pushing it away from her with the same deliberation until her arms were straight.

It was very quiet in the hotel's gym, not surprising since it was before dawn. Jade lowered the bar and pressed it up again, keeping an even rhythm until she'd done it ten times. Then she set the weight back on the bar and let her arms drop.

"Ouch." She flexed her shoulder carefully, reaching over to probe the tightness she could feel still in the joint. It had mostly healed after her injury, but getting a full range of motion back and evening out the strength between her two arms was proving a long and to her tedious process.

But a process it was, and she slid down, fitting her legs under the leg press and flexing her thigh muscles to lift the weights she'd set on it up steadily. Aside from their new kickboxing classes, she'd felt the need lately to reaffirm the power she'd taken years to build into her body and she'd started doing a little more weightlifting than she had been for a while.

Wasn't any real reason for it. Jade folded her hands across her stomach and counted silently. Just a phase she was going through, apparently, maybe her running and other efforts getting her bored at the moment.

Breakfast was also on her mind. As she exercised, Jade went over the possible tacks she could take in their next fencing match with Shari and Michelle. Should she give them the benefit of the doubt and assume maybe they did just want to bury the hatchet? Maybe Tori was right.

Jade slid up on the bench and switched back to the chest presses. Maybe she was letting the personal side of the issue get in the way a little too much. After all, Shari wasn't anything she needed to worry about now. She'd past her years back in the business strategy arena, she was a successful corporate executive, and she had the stable loving relationship Shari had been so sure she hadn't been capable of.

So it was her game, match, and goal, and she had nothing to fear from either her ex lover, her ex lover's company, or the breakfast they were going to have in just a few hours.

Right. Jade let the bar drop again, and braced her legs, beginning a set of sit ups, contracting her torso muscles in a more rapid rhythm. So why did she have knots in her guts?

For a few long moments she turned the thoughts off, concentrating on the exercise instead. Then her eyes lifted and met her reflection's gaze from the mirrors on the wall and she saw the wry lift of her own lips. "I think that whole 'grown up' crap wasn't a hundred percent now, was it JaeJae?" She addressed herself in a mocking tone. "Still smarting from that first blow off, huh?"

Just the articulation seemed to help. The knotted feeling inside her stomach eased, and she felt her body relax in response to it. "Redneck squirt fraud." She stuck her tongue out and slowed her motion, turning the last crunch into a rise to her feet as she ambled over to the leg press with a sigh. "Turn off the hormones, turn on the synapses. Think about what you've got right now."

She loaded an extra plate onto the bar and got under it, lifting it up onto her shoulders carefully and pausing to set her feet. With a deep breath, she went down with the weight, then straightened her legs and eased back up.

She did it again, reveling in the reassuring sense of control as her body responded smoothly. You are the energy in this, Jade. She reminded herself silently. They want something from you. That means you have to drive the situation to your advantage.

I can do that. Her inner confidence responded. We can do that. Jade corrected herself, with a smile. They are out of their league but they just don't know it yet.

The next morning started off charmingly enough, Tori reasoned, as she surveyed the chocolate kiss resting squarely on her navel. Jade was no where to be seen, but she concluded the kiss could not have come from a Disney waiter, so she unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth as she slid from under the covers and got out of bed.

A rumble of thunder caught her attention, and she glanced outside the window, where a gray, drizzly day met her eyes. "Hm." She lifted her tshirt from the back of the chair and slipped into it, turning to check the clock by the bed. "Six thirty."

She poked her head into the bathroom, and deducted by the one neatly hung, but still damp towel over the shower bar and the distinct, lingering scent of their body wash that Jade had taken her morning scrub and gone out to do…

To do what? Tori scrubbed her teeth and ruminated on that for a while. Jade hadn't mentioned going out before meeting their unwelcome breakfast guests, so what was her partner up to?

The answer came quite unexpectedly when the door to the room opened. Tori stuck her head out and spotted Jade entering, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a cutoff cotton shirt. "Hmph."

"Morning." Jade greeted her with a cheerful grin. "Ready for breakfast."

"Nph," Tori pointed her toothbrush at Jade. "Wherf yof gop?"

"Gym." Jade replied. "I got up at five, and couldn't go back to sleep."

"Hmph." Tori disappeared, going to the sink and rinsing the toothpaste out of her mouth. "You could have woken me up. I'd have gone with you." She wiped her lips and returned to the doorway.

Jade was stripping out of her sweatpants and slipped past her, giving her a kiss on the back of the neck. "I know. But I was doing heavy presses, and I know you hate those."

"Mm." Tori wrapped her fingers in the fabric of Jade's half shirt and followed her like a puppy towards the shower. "That's true, but I didn't have to do them."

"You looked too cute to wake up." Jade removed her shirt and sports bra, then tugged on Tori's tshirt. "Share a shower with me?"

Mollified, Tori removed her shirt and stepped into the shower as Jade adjusted the spray. "Thanks for the kiss, by the way." She picked up the scrubber, still damp from it's earlier use, and squeezed some gel onto it.

Jade joined her. "No problem." She stretched both arms out and flexed her hands. "I just thought you'd want to get as much sleep in as you could, since we're starting early, and it's gonna be a long day."

Tori stifled a yawn, and managed to not quiet suppress a rueful grin. "Yeah." She admitted. "Now I wish I hadn't been such a smart mouth and suggested breakfast at the crack of dawn." She scrubbed Jade's chest industriously. "Though, it was worth it to see their sour pusses."

Jade slid her arms around Tori and just held her for a brief moment, giving her a hug before she released her again. "You know what?"

Cautiously, brown eyes peered up from between a few wet strands of dark hair. " Are you going to make me blush again?" Tori asked. "Not that I minded the compliment." She added.

"It was true." Jade exhaled contentedly. "But what I was going to say was that I'm sort of looking forward to this damn breakfast."

Tori gave her a light scrub around the belly button. "Why?"

"I just am." Jade replied, stroking Tori's cheek with the backs of her knuckles. "We may even have fun at it."

We just may. Tori chuckled silently to herself. She freely admitted that her dislike of Shari had it's roots in the cruel treatment the woman had given her partner, and if Michelle had bought into that kind of mentality, she didn't deserve much respect either, especially given the dirty tricks she'd tried to play with the pictures of them from their first visit to the parks.

She had always fiercely defended Jade, even from the first. Now, faced with someone who had quite deliberately hurt her beloved friend and lover, Tori found a very unexpectedly fierce protective instinct rearing it's head inside her.

She wanted to kick her ass. Tori finished her washing, and they stepped out to dry each other off. She wanted to kick Shari's ass, and the violence of the thought almost surprised her.

Almost.

Jade relaxed on the bench in the lobby, stretching her legs out and leaning back as she watched Tori circle the pretty atrium examining the birds. Arriving a little early, they settled in to wait for their guests, as the rain continued to drum on the plate glass windows.

She hitched one denim covered knee up and rested her ankle on it's mate, examining the little blue and white cross stitches on one side of her sneaTor. It was cool in the lobby, and she briefly wished she'd put on a long sleeve t-shirt instead of a short sleeved one, but considered that the writing on the front of it was probably worth a little chill.

Tori returned from her impromptu bird watching and took a seat next to Jade, kicking her heels out a little as listening as her sneaTors squeaked a bit on the newly polished floor. "Nice weather." She commented.

"Mm." Jade agreed, with a nod.

"Hope they got caught in it." Tori went on, in a mild voice.

"Your wish to the god of thunder's ears." Jade pointed through the window. "Nice work."

Tori peered through the rain streaked glass to see Shari and Michelle running awkwardly through the rain to get to the door from the parking lot. "Heh." She chuckled. "Must be tough running in those heels."

"Mmhm." Her partner agreed. "Must be."

The two reached the doors and entered, their smart and well fitted business suits spotted with rain, which also glistened in droplets on every square inch of them. Both shook their hands in disgust as they looked around.

"Hi." Tori waved. "Over here!"

Jade waited for them to walk over before she uncrossed her legs and stood. "Morning." She greeted them briefly. "Dining room's that way." She turned and headed for the steps, clearly expecting them to follow.

"Good morning." Michelle greeted Tori in a polite tone. "Lovely weather." She glanced at Shari, who merely started off after Jade. After a second, she started walking as well, and Tori fell into step next to her. 'So, is this where you start the good cop, bad cop routine?"

"Hm?" Tori cocked her head. "What routine?"

Michelle shook her head and snorted. "Never mind." She exhaled. "Looks like the convention's going to start on time, if anyone comes in this mess, that is."

"I think they will." Tori said. "But in any case, the people who we really want there are already here, and with this weather, they're really more likely to attend the con than skip out and go to the parks. So it works in our favor."

Michelle glanced at her, then made a small sound of grudging agreement. "So how are things otherwise?" She asked. "We tried to get into Vista, but I heard they resigned a long term with you this year."

"True." Tori indicated Michelle forward as they reached the restaurant. Jade and Shari were already at the server's stand, waiting for them so they could be seated. "We were able to put most of their stuff up on our new net, and it meant a good cost savings for them if they signed now. So they did." She continued, as they followed a uniformed woman to a table near the front.

They sat down across from each other, Tori neatly slipping in next to Jade as the woman handed them their menus. "Thanks." She let hers sit, already knowing what she was going to order.

And what Jade was going to order, for that matter. She watched Jade fiddle with her fork, then she shifted and leaned forward, bringing her knee into contact with her partner's. "So, how are things with you?" She asked Michelle. "Are you having fun doing this start up?"

"It's been a blast." Michelle responded amiably. "Until this week, that is." She took her napkin and attempted to dry herself. "We've got a lot of plans for the future."

The waiter arrived and stood poised, a look of polite inquiry on his face. "Ma'am?" He addressed Michelle first. "Would you like to order?"

"I'd like to be put through the spin dry cycle." The short red-head answered. "But I'll take a continental, please." She added. "Coffee, wheat toast."

The waiter scribbled for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Shari. "Ma'am?"

"Juice and a bowl of whatever dry cereal you have." The woman answered shortly. "Skim milk."

Tori folded her hands together on the table and made eye contact with the waiter as he looked inquiringly at her. She shifted her gaze to Jade's profile, then looked back at him. "Two orders of French toast with crispy bacon, coffee, and two large glasses of milk, please."

The man beamed at her, and took the menus she handed over. "Be right back."

Jade leaned back and rested her elbows on her chair arms, steepling her fingers together, then folding them inward. "We have plans for the future as well." She allowed. "We've just started development work on G2 of our net."

Shari frowned, but Michelle blinked and sat forward. "But you just put it up last year." She objected. "You can hardly have a baseline yet."

"We've got one." Jade replied. "I've projected out five years, and with current trends in applications development, I'll need a G2 in twenty four months at the very latest. We short wired some whole development cycles in firmware."

"Impressive." Michelle nodded, with a serious expression. "But if your projections come short, it could be an expensive white elephant."

Jade's expression remained relaxed. She flexed her fingers a little, the lights catching on the ring she wore on her third finger as they moved. "It's circular." She shook her head. "Right now, we've provided a pipe for some companies that allows them to triple their production cycles. That's speeding up their demand, which they'll come back to us for. No one else can do it right now."

"So your marketing hype says." Shari interjected. "But there's more to it than expensive hardware."

"The system capabilities aren't hype." Tori said. "Or else the accounts of ours you targeted for conversion wouldn't have been the external and programming services ones. You didn't go after anyone with our infrastructure."

Shari looked over at Tori, her eyebrows lifting slightly. Tori gazed back at her with a mild expression. "Contracts are contracts." She countered. "We only started with those."

Jade chuckled. "And service is service. What's gonna happen the first time one of them calls you up and wants their contract expanded on the spot to new coverage, or they move to a different system that you don't have?"

"We can handle that." Shari answered quickly. "We've got the best people in the business… some of them were damn glad to come over from you, in fact."

Michelle took a breath and gave her companion a look. "Hey. We're supposed to be networking. Not boxing." She said. "Of course we picked certain arenas to compete in. We're not stupid." She added. "But we are in an expansion mode."

The waiter returned and poured their coffee, giving them all a moment's break. When he finished and left again, Shari leaned back. "Michelle's right." She conceded. "It's just that it's been a tough startup, and we're damn proud of the progress we've made."

Tori stirred her coffee and took a sip. "Well, you can thank us for making it easier than it might have been." She spoke up. "A lot of accounts that I go in on the bid teams for, who've never worked with us are still not sure if women can handle IT, y'know. The accounts you worked with already know we can."

Michelle and Shari exchanged glances. Shari tilted her head to one side, and her lips quirked. "Never really considered that." She allowed.

"Mm." Michelle nodded briefly. "That's a good point. I was on the other side for a long time, and I never had any doubts myself…" She chuckled self deprecatingly "But I remember sitting at inter company seminars with lots of old boys who did."

"Yes. and many old girls tht went along with them…" Tori's lips tensed into a half smile. "I lived with one for many years." She rested her hand on the table, her wrist brushing Jade's crossed knee. "We've worked hard for what we achieved too."

The waiter came back again, this time with a big tray. He placed their breakfasts down, then came to the front of the table and straightened up. "Anything else I can get for you right now?" He inquired. "Everything all right?"

Tori inspected her plate of French toast, while Jade picked up her glass of milk and took a long swallow. "Looks great." She complimented the man. "Thanks." She picked up her fork and knife, cutting off a piece of the fragrant toast and dipping it neatly into some syrup before she put it into her mouth.

It was quiet for a few minutes, as everyone concentrated on eating. Jade typically sliced her toast into manageable squares then put her knife down, and selected the closest square to liberally drown in syrup. "So." The dark haired woman finally spoke again, glancing up across the table. "Now that we've exhausted all the small talk we're all probably capable of, what the fuck do you two want?"

The noise of cutlery ceased entirely from the other side of the table.

Tori paused in mid bite, then went on chewing. So much, she sighed inwardly, for a peaceful morning.