and we continue. I hope you all have a happy new year tomorrow just in case I don't upload anything.

Twenty Five

The office building seemed quiet. Tori walked along the hallway taking a quick glance right and left into hushed rooms and stilted, almost empty atriums. Everything was white and gray, and she found it profoundly depressing even by their own office's standards. "Least I have burgundy walls."

A woman working at a pristine white desk looked up as she passed, and Tori got the impression of wide, alarmed blue eyes before the woman ducked her head again and went back to the pad she was writing on.

Another woman, in a severe gray wool suit stopped by the desk, tapping on it's surface with her pencil before moving on, brushing past Tori and giving her jeans a very disapproving look. "Are you here to deliver something?" She asked, pausing briefly.

"No." Tori replied, with a gentle smile. "I'm working on a computer problem."

The blue eyed woman at the desk furtively watched the exchange, her fingers fiddling with the pen she'd been writing with.

"Well, you should tell your company to dress their technicians better, then. It's a shame." The woman in the gray suit turned and walked away, shaking her head. "Terrible." She turned again. "What company is it?"

"WesTrek." Tori supplied helpfully.

"Oh, really?" The woman put her hand on her hip. "Never mind then. One of your big bosses is here, and I'll just tell her that myself." She marched off in the direction of the conference room, her shoulders fairly twitching with indignation..

Silence closed down over them again. Tori shook her head and started to turn away, but a hesitant motion from the girl at the desk made her pause. She waited, taking in the short, stylish rust colored hair and the tiny cross earrings with idle interest. "Hi."

"Sorry you're going to get in trouble." The girl said, in a soft voice. "She's in everybody's business."

"It's okay. I'm not worried." Tori reassured her. "Is she your office manager?"

"Yeah. Hannah Meyer." She hesitated briefly. "So you're a computer tech, huh?"

A brief twinkle entered Tori's brown eyes. "No." She dug her business card from one of her back pockets and handed it over. "My name's Tori."

"Shawna….oh." The girl studied the card, then looked up at Tori. "You're a vice president? Really?" Her voice sounded a touch incredulous. "Wow. That's pretty wild." She eyed Tori's stone washed crimson short sleeved shirt and button flies doubtfully. "I mean, like, Hannah's right kind of. You don't look the part at all.. you do look more like a tech person."

"Looks can be deceiving." Tori advised. "What do you do?" She indicated the spotless white shiny surface of the desk, which contained the writing pad, a cup with two pens in it, and not much more.

"Oh, I.. um.. " Shawna shrugged one shoulder. "I coordinate meetings. You know, like, schedule the conference rooms and stuff like that." One fingertip rolled the pencil she'd been using. "I set up lunch, too, and bring in materials. Collate." The words seemed to trouble her briefly. "It's a good job, and it's a great office in here, really smart, you know? My parents really like me working here."

Tori felt a very brief moment of resonance with this skewed reflection of one of her own life's possibilities. "My folks would have liked it for me too." She told Shawna. "But I'm glad I picked my own path." She added. "See you later."

She felt the eyes on her back all the way down the hall, until she turned the corner and pushed open the door to the break room.

Jade stretched, arching her back as she wandered down the wall of windows, peering out of them as the rain continued to roll down. She was alone in the conference room, since Hans was in a smaller private office talking with his programmers, and Tori was off finding some coffee.

A surge of well being flooded her, and taking a quick look around, Jade took a bouncing step then inverted into a handstand, balancing her weight on her palms as she edged around in a small circle. "Heh heh heh." She chortled softly. "Haven't done this in a while."

Behind her, she heard the door suddenly open, and knew from the clicking of heels that it wasn't either Tori or Hans. Caught in the act, so to speak, she decided to pretend walking on one's hands was a normal act and turned, spotting a short, somewhat squat figure in gray staring at her. "Yes?" She asked briskly. "You need something?"

Without a word, the figure retreated and slammed the door. Jade hastily let her body drop backwards and flipped up, landing a bit precariously on her heels, but rocking forward to catch her balance before she could fall back and smack herself silly.

With a soft, wry chuckle, she walked back over to the conference table, settling back into her chair and spinning around slowly in it. She breathed out, as that bit of acrobatics made her kind of dizzy. "whew…"

Tori gave the two men in the break room a cordial smile as she made her way to the coffee machine. "Afternoon."

"Ah, Ms.. Vega, right?" The older of the two came over to her. "Nice to see you again… but I wasn't aware you were coming out here. Is the problem that complex?"

"Called in the reserves, looks like it to me." His companion said. "Too much for them, I think."

"No, Mr. Godson, it really isn't." Tori set two cups down and started preparing them to order. "Or, well.. to be totally accurate, yes, it's complex, but Jade is more than up to the task of fixing it. I was just in the area visiting another account and thought I'd stop in." It was an innocuous enough lie, she thought, and one Godson would have difficulty proving one way or the other.

"Ah, well of course." Godson nodded. "Are they making progress, I hope?"

The other man snorted softly. Tori correctly deduced his identity and muffled a grimace. "You could say that. The program is being rewritten, and we're just waiting for the new code to test it. I think we should have this little problem wrapped up by sunset." She gave them both a smile. "Excuse me." She picked up the coffee cups and walked past them, making sure she looked Meyer right in the eye as she did. "Sorry to disappoint you."

"Disappoint?" Godson followed her eagerly. "Goodness gracious no! That's fantastic news! Fabulous! See, I told you, Jason. You're so doom and gloom!"

Tori hid a grin, hearing the slight choking sound behind her.

"We ready?" Jade asked, as she leaned on one elbow and gave her touchpad a nudge.

"Not just yet." Hans replied, busy at his own machine. "I am waiting for a last set of libraries." He spared a quick glance up at Tori, who was catching up on her mail in the seat next to Jade. "Did your companion have a nice flight?"

"Hm?" Jade brought her attention back from someplace. "Oh, it was fine." She replied. "I'm going to set up some router policies while we're waiting." A softly melodic whistle escaped her as she set to work, her body shifting a little as she locked her legs up behind the chairs.

"Ah hah." Hans regarded her with mild bemusement. Jade's entire attitude seemed very different today, he'd noticed. She appeared relaxed and almost friendly, quite a contrast from the edgy, threatening restless woman he'd encountered yesterday.

Was it perhaps that she had been proven right? Hans pondered. That often did put himself in a good mood, just as being wrong often put him in a bad one.

"Hey, Jade. Check it out. Email from your mother." Tori reached out and gave her partner's sleeve a tug.

Jade straightened. "My mother?" She turned and stared at Tori. "You got my mother to touch a computer?" She leaned over and peered at Tori's laptop in disbelief. "No way."

"Yes way." Tori grinned. "It's not a computer, though. "I opened a gmail account for her on her phone." She opened the mail. "That way we wouldn't end up having to run down to the marina if she opened a spam virus."

"Mm… good thinking." Jade peered at the mail. "How come she didn't send me one?" She frowned.

"Possibly because you wouldn't know the recipe for jambalaya?" Tori pointed out. "I don't know, maybe she did. Have you checked?"

Jade went back to her own machine, minimizing her network session and opening up her mail instead. She scanned the lines quickly, her eyes lighting up slightly as she spotted the new address. "Heh.. got one." She clicked on it, then blinked. "But not from mom."

Tori grinned a little, watching her partner lean closer to the screen, her head cocking to one side as she read. "Hey, Jade?" She asked after a few seconds. "Did some woman in a gray suit come in here complaining about me?"

Jade slowly turned her head and looked at Tori. "Huh?"

"Never mind." The brunette waved her back to her screen. "Tell dad I say hi."

Hans looked between one and the other, grunting as an apparent enlightenment came to him. He pecked out a few keys, then pushed the machine back. "All right, my friend, it is time. Are you ready to try this child of ours?"

There was a long moment's silence.

"Jade?" Tori reached over and touched her partner's leg, startling her a little from her intense concentration. "I think he's ready to test… you okay?"

"Um.. yeah, fine." Jade seemed a bit embarrassed. "Sorry." She turned to Hans and spoke to him in German. "Ready to go?"

"Yes. I am ready. I will warn you, we have not tested this fully. If we put this in now and it does not work, I cannot back it out, and they will be crashed. Do you understand this?"

Jade nodded. "Go for it."

Tori's eyes flicked between them, not understanding the words, but seeing by the shifts in Jade's body posture that something was about to happen.

"Are you sure?" Hans asked. "Do you not want to tell these people what we are doing?"

"And give them a chance to say no?" Jade leaned on both elbows. "You're the big shot programmer who's always perfect. You have confidence in your stuff? I've got confidence in mine." She said. "So do it, or admit you blew it."

Hans frowned at her seriously. "That is not fair." He muttered. "But I will hold up my end. If it fails, I will point at you and shrug my shoulders." He attacked his keyboard with a furious rattle.

"Is he doing something?" Tori asked.

"Putting the new program in." Jade told her, watching her screen intently.

"In the middle of a production day?" Tori protested. "Jade!" She half stood, caught by surprise. "What if we take them down!"

Jade set her filters, and waited, her hands flexing lightly over the keyboard. "I'll risk it. I'm not missing out on a carriage ride and dinner with you for this bunch of nits." She looked at Hans. "Now?"

With a finishing clatter, Hans touched one last key and lifted his hands. "It is done."

Tori settled slowly back in her seat, holding her breath and crossing everything she could that her trust in Jade's judgment wouldn't fail her.. fail both of them, in this most public of circumstances.

A few moments only, would tell.

Jade knew she was taking a huge risk. In fact, she knew having Hans replace the running program in the middle of the day was more than a risk, it was a shockingly disruptive action which she'd just ordered him to do.

However, what she'd told Tori was absolutely true – she had no intention of sitting around in this glass box until after hours just to dump the program when it was least inconvenient to Godson. He was inconveniencing her by having her be here, and she was doing him a favor. Besides, as her note from her father had reminded her –

Do it, and ask forgiveness later.

Jade opened her network session wide and watched both of her routers with a hawk-like intensity. She saw the data stream abruptly stop, the packets trickling to absolutely nothing but management traffic. "Program's restarting."

"Yah." Hans folded his arms across his chest. "All the sessions went to the bathroom." He said. "They will not be happy, that is for sure."

Tori laid her hands on the table, drumming it's surface softly with her thumbs. She could sense the building tension, and after a moment she pushed herself to her feet and went to stand behind Jade's chair. She laid her hand on her partner's back, giving the skin under the cotton shirt a little friendly scratch before she focused her attention on the screen in front of her.

Jade didn't like to be hovered over, but Tori felt some of the stiffness in her back relax at Tori's touch and knew she understood the gesture of support. She watched Jade's fingers flicker over the keys, the gentle spatter of keystrokes almost rhythmic as the patterns were put in place waiting for the data stream to return. "Should it take that long to restore?" She muttered softly.

"I don't know." Jade replied. "Hans…" She added in German. "Do you have to restart the servers?"

"I should not have to."

"Want to check? I don't see sessions coming up."

With an aggrieved sigh, the German programmer bent over his laptop again, just as the door opened and Jason Meyer entered.

"What's going on? Did you take us down?" The VP Ops snapped. "I've got everyone in the building calling me."

Jade barely glanced up. "You wanted it fixed ASAP." She said. "We try to give the customer what they want."

"Are you insane? How could you do that?" Meyer said. "It's the middle of the business day! Stop whatever you're doing right now!"

"Hans?" Jade ignored the red faced executive.

"Must you always be correct?" Hans replied in a disgusted tone. "They are coming up at this moment."

Meyer advanced on them, and Tori reacted instinctively to intercept him, circling Jade's chair and putting herself between her partner and the approaching man. "Just give them a minute, Mr. Meyer. It's almost done."

"I am not going to give it a minute. This is totally irresponsible." Meyer responded. "I demand you bring us back up, right now, West!" He tried to move past Tori but found his way blocked, and realized the space behind the table wasn't big enough to go around her. "Get out of my way."

"Mr. Meyer, please calm down." Tori stood her ground. "Just let them finish. I know it's a disruption, but.."

"Get out of my way." Meyer repeated, ignoring her words. "I'm not putting up with any more of this crap. Now move, or I'll.." His eyes slid past her, over her shoulder as he cut off his words.

Tori knew Jade must have stood up behind her. She could almost feel the bristling danger at her shoulder blades, but she kept her gaze focused forward and her tone even. "Mr. Meyer, you've been having this problem since you put in this program. Most of your people can't work during the day anyway, and it's so slow the rest of them are just so frustrated. Why not give us a chance to change all that? It's worth ten minutes downtime."

For a moment, she thought he was going to ignore her. But then he took a half step backwards, his face twitching. He addressed her again, though the shifting of his eyes indicated he was keeping something behind her in his peripheral vision.

"Ten minutes isn't the question." He said quietly. "The issue at hand here is the fact you did this without warning us. I don't find that acceptable, Ms. Vega. Do you?"

Tori heard the chair squeak softly behind her, and relaxed just a trifle even though the man's question was a valid one she had no good answer to. "Well, that's something we can discuss once it's fixed." She conceded. "So why don't we.."

"They're up." Jade's voice cut in. "I'm resetting the filters now. Let's see if we can make this warthog grow wings."

Letting out an imperceptible sigh of relief, Tori turned, finding her partner once again hunched over her laptop. She took a step forward and let her hand rest on Jade's back again. "See? Less than ten minutes. More like five."

Jade felt her heartbeat start to slow as she forced herself to concentrate on the screen. The adrenaline pumping through her body was threatening to make her hands shake, and she laid them firmly on the palm rest as she silently willed her algorithms to work.

Stubbornly, the stream seemed to be resisting them, giving her no real improvement. Stifling a curse, Jade studied the output, suddenly aware of the tense silence around her, and the expectations weighing heavily on her shoulders.

The heaviest of all being the light, gentle touch on her back.

"I doubt very much that anything's fixed." Meyer stated. "In fact, I doubt very much you people even know what you're doing."

"Jade?" Tori uttered softly.

"I know." Her partner answered. "Give me a minute. I'm looking."

Her eyes spotted an error. With a twitch of her lips, she corrected it, then put the new configuration in place and watched the streams flicker back up, this time to a completely different rhythm. Jade let out a silent breath. The erratic spikes on her gauges dissipated, replaced by much lower, even flow, and the throughput level settled into a comfortingly green pulse.

"Well, unfortunately for you, but fortunately for your company Mr. Meyer, you're wrong." Tori spoke up. "Could you please contact one of your remote offices, and let's see how it looks from there? It looks pretty good here."

Hans had gotten up, and now he circled the desk and planted himself over Jade's other shoulder, leaning down and peering at the screen with interest. "Bah." He grunted.

Meyer went to the phone on the conference table and hit a few buttons. After a brief ring, there was an answer. "Bob? This is Jason Meyer in New York."

There was a pause. "Oh.. ah, yes, yes, sir." Bob answered. "Is there something wrong?"

Meyer's head jerked back a little. "You tell me."

"Sir?"

With a frown, the VP Ops leaned closer to the phone. "Can you have someone connect to the system and tell me if you see a difference? Not that I expect you to, but we did something here and I'm just checking." He glanced up as Stewart Godson walked in. "It seems we were taken down without warning, sir."

"Eh?" Godson walked over. "We were? Didn't notice." He glanced curiously at the group at the head of the table. "What's going on here?"

"Check the system? Oh, okay, sir." Bob answered. "Hang on."

Tori shifted her hand, draping her arm over Jade's shoulder instead and moving a step closer, so her hip was brushing her partner's sleeve. She wasn't worried about the test – she knew from what she was looking at that Jade had done it, but she had to briefly wonder if the risk hadn't damaged the relationship more than it needed to.

She wondered how Jade felt about it. She could see her reflection in the laptop screen, and for a second, the blue eyes lifted and their gazes met. Tori grinned a little, and was rewarded with the flicker of a wink.

"I don't think we're going to be pleased at all with these results sir." Meyer shook his head. "And the entire company was disrupted. You know what I think? I think we need to.."

"Sir?" Bob's voice came back. "I don't know what you did, but boy, it's flying here. Wow. The entry people are all pretty excited."

Jade folded her hands together and smirked. "You need that translated, Hans?" She asked the programmer. "It worked."

Godson clapped his hands. "Wonderful! Bob, are you in Arizona?"

"Yes, yes.. ah, is that Mr. Godson? Yes sir, we are." Bob sounded confused, but happy. "Are we a test group? I didn't get that email."

"NO one did." Jason ground out through clenched teeth.

"Of course it worked." Hans sniffed. "You are brilliant, I am brilliant, it is a wonder the room does not melt with the combined brilliance of us. Can we go have a beer now?"

Tori felt her entire body relax, and she leaned against Jade quite unconsciously. "I have no idea what else he said, but I got the beer part. I'm up for it."

"For lunch?" Jade did a subtle little dance of triumph in her seat, shifting her shoulders and bumping Tori with the left one. "Stewart, can you put a note out to everyone, and let's get a consensus before we close the books on this. I want to know that everyone's happy."

Godson was on his cell phone. "Hello, Harry? Yes.. yes, it's Stewart… listen, I think I've got our performance problem cleared up.. want to give it a go? What?" He listened. "It did? You are? Fabulous! Great to hear… what did I do? Oh, well, you know, it was all a matter of just getting some of the kinks worked out.. you know, new system and all that."

Jade snorted and rolled her eyes just a little.

"Well, thanks, Harry." Godson beamed. "Glad you feel that way, and I hope to continue to earn that respect from you. Listen, if you hear any other feedback, just let me know, hm?" He closed his phone and faced them. "Ladies and Gentlemen, so far so good. That was our CFO. He's been one of the biggest critics… he's in Boca Raton."

"We saved his ass." Jade translated for Hans. "Bet he gets a bonus out of it."

"Hah." Hans snorted.

"Well, I'm glad we could get the problem solved, Stewart." Jade continued in English. "Hans and I figured if we threw the change into production now, we'd know by the end of the day if there were any issues with it – if we did it off hours we'd have to wait till Monday to test."

Stewart nodded briskly. "Good plan. Well, Jason? Let's go take credit for this, shall we? I told you it'd all work out. You should have more faith, sometimes."

Meyer looked like he was unsuccessfully trying to swallow a peeled lemon. "Yes, sir." He eventually got out. "I guess you were right." He admitted. "But I think we need to discuss how we put together our outsourcing contracts, to make sure we have more control over what this process is." He turned and went to the door, pausing to wait for his boss. "I won't forget how it was accomplished, regardless of the result."

Godson chuckled. "Jason, lighten up." He waved at Jade as he left. "Had my girl send out a note, Jade. I'll let you know what we hear." He followed Jason out the door and closed it, leaving them in a moment of mutual, thoughtful silence.

The rain had finally stopped, and a pallid sunset was brushing the windows of Stewart Godson's office as Jade formally ended their visit. The executive was seated behind his desk, his hands behind his head, looking very pleased with himself, and consequently also pleased with Jade. "Well, Jade, I realize it was a tough spot, but it all worked out, didn't it?"

Jade aligned her forearms on the chairs precisely. "It did." She acknowledged. "Not the way we like to do things, but the bottom line is it got done and now you can move forward."

"You bet." Godson agreed. "Everyone I've heard from so far is very pleased, and I think now we can even find a way to really work with Hans' company if something like this comes up again. So, thanks, Jade. I owe you a big one."

There were times to gloat, and times when it was better just to be gracious. Jade didn't much like being gracious, and it was undeniably more fun to gloat, but she'd laboriously gained a small sense of propriety over the years and didn't like to waste it. "Glad I was able to work it out for you, Stewart."

He waved a hand at her. "Never doubted it." Godson said. "I've had people come in here, pitching me deals to do what you do cheaper, but I know when my keister's in a pickle, you people have always come through for me. Means a lot."

"Well, Stewart, you know we value you very much as a customer." Jade went through the requisite dance steps stolidly. "So I hope we'll always be there to come through for you."

"Me too." Godson got up and paced a little. "But what in the world did you do to get old Jason so miffed at you? I got an earful the size of the Empire State after we left that room." He sat down on the edge of his desk and looked curiously at Jade. "He's really got a problem with what he views as your ethics."

"My ethics?" Jade indicated her chest with her thumb. "Stewart, the man's got stock in a competitor of mine, and he wanted us out so he could bring them in. He talks about *my* ethics?" She half shook her head. "You better watch out for him. He's after this office."

A furrow appeared over Godson's brow. "You really think so? He's a good guy, Jade. Very sharp."

Jade sighed. "Stewart, he's a rat. You don't have to believe me, but at least watch your back because I sure as hell don't want to be negotiating with him when our contract comes up for renewal. We won't have a chance."

Godson looked doubtful, but he nodded anyway. "Well, I'll keep it in mind." He answered diplomatically. "You know we all can't be as friendly working together as you and Ms. Vega are."

Jade lifted an eyebrow.

"But then you girls usually are chummier than us fellas are." Stewart continued. "Anyway, don't let me hold you up, Jade. I know you've got things to do and more people to help. You flying out tonight?"

"No." Jade got up and extended a hand, gripping Godson's when he took it. "Us girls are going out for a romantic dinner together then heading for a show at Radio City Music Hall." She released his hand, watching his jaw drop as he processed her statement. "We're leaving tomorrow morning. But thanks for asking. Have a great day."

"Bu…" Godson half stood as Jade turned and walked to the door, his hand still outstretched. "Ah… bye?"

The door closed behind Jade's form, leaving the room far emptier without her vibrant presence. Godson let his hand drop to his knee and snorted, shaking his head slightly into all that silence.

Tori stuck her hands in her pockets as she waited on the ground floor of the big office building. The tall granite walls reminded her a little of their office in San Francisco, but she found the slate gray even more impersonal and cold than the copper and bronze shades they used out west.

She was glad the weather had cleared, even though the hazy sun promised a muggy heat, at least they'd be able to go for their carriage ride and find someplace to have a nice, lazy dinner. The show that night was an opera, which neither of them were really partial to but Tori didn't care. They had good seats, and Jade had promised to take her strapless gown shopping.

Life was very good. She exhaled. At least, her personal life was very good. Though they'd fixed the problem, she had gotten the feeling that there was trouble under the surface here and she knew for sure Meyer was going to be a thorn in their side from now on.

What would she have done in Jade's place, she wondered. Played it safe? Involved the client in the decision, and scheduled the testing based on their needs? Would that have been a better long term solution?

Tori sighed, and leaned against the glass, watching the traffic go by outside. What Jade had told Godson about testing during business hours was quite accurate, in point of fact, and she knew it. But she also knew Jade's decision hadn't really been based on that at all – she'd simply wanted the problem over and done with because she had, in her view, better things to do.

From a business perspective, Tori had issues with that. From a personal one, since she was the better thing, it was hard to argue with it since she really had no urge to spend the night sitting around in this building either.

Rats. Sometimes she really hated the duality of her work life.

Hans cleared his throat slightly, and leaned next to her on the glass, giving her a polite nod.

Tori nodded back, and added a tentative smile.

"Tori, yes?" Hans said.

"Right." Tori answered. "You did a great job." She wasn't sure exactly how much he'd understand, but nice words never hurt anyone regardless of the language. "Thanks for working with Jade on getting it fixed."

He seemed to get the gist, because his face eased into a smile. "It was much pleasure." He stated carefully. "Your Jade has strong talent."

My Jade. Tori reckoned he didn't actually mean that in the literal sense, but she was glad to accept the compliment anyway. "Thanks. Yes, she is very talented."

"Also of good taste." Hans commented, blinking placidly at her.

Tori stared at him for a second before she realized he could possibly be referring to her. "Ah.. thanks." She replied, belatedly remembering the way she'd draped herself all over Jade in the conference room, totally without thinking about it. If Hans had picked up on it, maybe the Meyer and Godson had too, and..

Jesus. Tori exhaled, her eyes flicking to the lobby elevators as she spotted Jade exiting from one and heading their way. Her partner appeared relaxed as she ambled across the marble floor, her characteristic slightly rolling walk almost succeeding in returning a smile to Tori's face.

"We're outta here." Jade said, as she reached them, repeating the sentiment in German for Hans. "You ready for that beer now?" She asked Tori, giving the back of her hair a little ruffle. "We've got time for that, before we have to go grab real clothes and head for culture world."

The touch reassured her. Tori nodded agreement, indicating the door with one pointing finger. They walked outside, into the moist heat and started off down the sidewalk together.

"I think I embarrassed your girlfriend." Hans told Jade, in a bemused tone, after they'd walked about a half a block in relative peace.

Jade glanced at him. "She's not my girlfriend."

Hans colored visibly, a somewhat startling sight against his pale skin. "Then I have embarrassed myself and I must apologize." He said. "I assumed…"

"She's my wife." Jade draped an arm over Tori's shoulders. "You're not embarrassed by that, right?" She asked Tori in English.

Tori shifted the strap on her briefcase, having suspecting she was being discussed. "By what?"

"Being married to me?" Jade repeated the question in German.

She almost stopped walking. "Did you get some hallucinogenic in that last cup of coffee? Of course not." Tori replied. "What made you ask *that, you goofball?" She hooked a finger inside Jade's belt loop and tugged it, to take any sting from her words. "Just because I don't have my 'I'm with her' shirt on today?"

Jade chuckled. "Hans thought he embarrassed you back there." She explained. "He assumed you were my girlfriend."

"Oh."

"So I corrected him."

"Eh." Tori gave her a sheepish look. "Yeah, I was being a little obvious upstairs. Sorry about that. I wonder if those other guys noticed it too.. maybe that's why Meyer was being so obnoxious."

Jade cocked her head in a puzzled attitude. "Huh?"

"Oh wait, there's my t-shirt." Tori pointed. "That one, right there."

Jade peered at the window. "My girlfriend can beat up your girlfriend?" She asked, with a snort of laughter. "Jesus, Tori."

"Pick one. I'd rather be Tori." Her partner replied.

"Hang on." Jade slowed down. "What did you mean about you upstairs?" She lowered her voice a little.

Jade hadn't noticed? Tori wondered, then conceded she hadn't either. A bus roared past, spitting the scent of diesel. "Never mind.. We'll talk about it later." Tori bumped her partner with her hip. "Where are we going?"

They stopped at a corner, and waited for the crossing light to change. Hans stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around, then turned inquiringly towards Jade. "Hotel bar is good for you?"

Jade had wandered towards a street cart, sniffing the air. "Yeah, that's fine." She called back over her shoulder. "Tori, want some nuts?" She walked over to the stand and examined it's contents, pointing at the cinnamon covered pecans as she dug a few bills from her front jeans pocket.

Having had nothing since breakfast save several cups of coffee, Tori found the nuts sounding pretty darn good. "Sure." She joined her partner at the cart. As they paid for their purchases, a familiar voice trickled through the surrounding bustle and Tori turned to see Jason Meyer standing at a pay phone nearby arguing into it. She gave Jade a poke and jerked her head towards him.

Jade turned, putting a nut between her teeth as she looked inquiringly in the direction Tori indicated. "Ah." She grunted. "Jerk doesn't even believe in cell phones? Now there's a technologist."

It was curious, Tori knew. Cell phones had become so woven into society it seemed very odd to see a man who had any number of them, and an entire corporate PBX at his disposal using a street side pay phone in the middle of a Friday afternoon crowd in Manhattan.

Why?

"Look! I don't care what you do! Just do it!" Meyer yelled, and then slammed down the phone. With a disgusted look he stalked off, hauling up as he came very close to crashing headlong into Hans. "Excuse me."

He brushed past and kept going, apparently not recognizing the programmer. Hans stared after him, then looked at Jade and Tori. He shrugged both shoulders and held his hands out in a universal message, which they returned in equal measure.

They rejoined Hans at the corner, and watched Meyer head back towards the entrance to his company's building. He shoved rudely ahead of a woman carrying two boxes, and nearly knocked her down, but didn't even look back as he let the door close behind him.

"What in the heck flew up his butt?" Tori wondered. "You know, I talked to him a few months ago, Jade. He seemed fine, then. Wonder what happened?"

Jade chewed her nut and swallowed it. "Beats me." She nudged Tori in the direction of their hotel. "Who knows? Maybe I happened. He stepped on my last nerve the second I got there and I went off all over him." She started across the street with Hans at her side, going with the flow of heavy foot traffic. "Maybe he's just a jerk."

"Huh." Tori followed her, idly nibbling her treat. "Maybe he's related to Shari. Same kind of backwards jackassedness."

Jade stopped short and looked at her. "Been talking to my father again, huh?" She drawled, giving Tori a very playful grin. "That sounds damn bizarre in a Midwestern accent."

"Heh." Tori chuckled under her breath. "I'll become Southern yet. You wait and see."