Let's paint the town red!

Twenty Six

Tori glanced at herself in the mirror and grinned impishly, adjusting the strapless front of her dress with careful fingers. The one nice thing about New York was, if you wanted fast, stylish shopping, you had it in spades all around you. She and Jade had gotten in and out of the stores in under forty five minutes, and now she was reviewing the results.

"Nice." She complimented herself. The dress she'd found was a deep, forest green silk with a tiny embroidered pattern, classic and plain, reaching just down to her knees. It was sleek, and fit her curves nicely, and even the prospect of sitting through opera couldn't put a damper on her mood. "Hey, sweetie?"

"Yes?" Jade's voice floated out from the bathroom.

"How about we find us someplace to dance after the show?" Tori asked. "Really just go out and party.. I think we're due it, after your brilliant solving of the problem here."

Jade poked her head out of the bathroom. "You consider dancing with me a party?" She asked in a quizzical tone.

Tori looked over at her. "You are not a bad dancer." She stated. "So don't give me that. C'mover here."

Obediently, Jade eased around the door jamb and came over to join Tori in front of the mirror. She was dressed in a snazzy blue number an inch or two longer than Tori's, but with much the same cut. The chest area was a little tight and she frowned at the soreness there. She didn't dare to hope this actually worked the first time. Silently congratulating her body for being this resilient.

"Sure, if you want to, I'm game." She picked up Tori's brush and started brushing her partner's dark hair. "That looks really good on you."

Tori turned her head and looked up. "Likewise, and thank you." She smiled warmly. "Shall we go the opera, madame?"

Jade tossed the brush onto the dresser and gestured towards the door with a grand flourish. "After you." She picked up the small clasp purse that held her wallet and electronics, and followed Tori as she half walked, half danced towards the hallway.

"Heh."

Tori turned as they reached the elevator. "What's so funny?"

Blue eyes blinked innocently. "Nothing."

The doors opened. "Uh huh. Go on." Tori indicated the opening.

"Oh no. Ladies first." Jade drawled. "Please."

Tori gave her a suspicious look, but she entered the brass and glass lined car and waited for her partner to join her before she pressed the button for the lobby. They started down, and halfway she found herself having to equalize her ears. "Oh, egh."

"Mm." Jade pressed her thumb behind her right earlobe. "I don't like having to do this without getting wet." She looked up just in time to see a very devilish expression on Tori's face. "What's that look for?"

Tori closed the distance between them and leaned against Jade as she laid a hand on her cheek and kissed her on the lips. "Mm."

Jade forgot about being in a hotel elevator. She slid a hand around Tori's side and continued the kiss, allowing the passion to build between them even as the car slowed, and bumped gently to a halt.

They parted just as the doors did, and the echoing buzz of the crowd in the lobby filtered in. Tori licked her lips and took a step back, taking a steadying breath before she dared look up again.

Jade's face had a definite flush to it, and her eyes held a dark twinkle that came very close to making Tori simply punch the button for their hotel floor and forget all about the damn opera. "Well. Made me forget all about my damn ears." Jade commented. "Shall we?"

Tori half reluctantly exited the elevator, giving the small group of people waiting to get on a polite smile. She waited for Jade to catch up to her, then they both continued on towards the door to the street. "Jade? Have you ever been to the opera?"

Jade simply laughed.

"I went a few times." Tori admitted, as they emerged into the warm night air. "I have to admit I missed the popcorn and Raisinettes."

Jade led the way to the curb, bypassing the hard working door man who was busy getting cabs for people. She fixed her gaze on an oncoming yellow cab instead, making eye contact with the driver and seemingly drawing him to the curb obediently with the power of her will.

The door man gave her a respectful look and hurried over to open the cab door. "Ma'am?"

"Thank you." Jade responded graciously, ducking inside the cab and scooting over as Tori joined her. "Radio City Music Hall." She instructed the driver.

"You got it!" The man responded cheerfully, pulling away from the curb and into the busy traffic flow with little regard to either oncoming cars or the lives of anyone in his own.

Tori slid her hand into Jade's and clasped it, settling happily back into her seat to watch the city go by. "Boy, I'm glad you got that problem cleared up. I'd hate to have been spending the night in that office."

"Uhm." Jade removed a small case from her purse and offered Tori one of it's contents. "Even though I took them down in the middle of the day? I saw you squirming over that."

"Well.." Tori selected a small candy and put it into her mouth, grimacing a moment later. "Flamingos on a shoestring, Jade.. you could have told me that was sour."

Jade sucked on her candy contentedly. "Sour tangerine." She agreed. "They had lemon, too."

Tori resolutely swallowed the offending bit of confection. "It wasn't the choice I'd have made.' She admitted. "But you know that. I tend to be… a little more conservative than you are."

"Conservative." Jade reached up and traced around Tori's tattoo, cheekily visible over the line of her dress. "Uh huh."

"Mm." The brunette grinned a little. "But anyway, you're right. I was squirming. I knew you'd make it come out right, but I really thought you were taking a big risk there."

And she had been. Jade felt the warmth of Tori's fingers curled in hers, and felt herself at peace with her decision. "I've always been a risk taker." She said. "And to be honest, I didn't really want to spend any more time there myself. So it worked out."

"Mm." Tori found she wanted very much to just accept that answer, and not argue the subject. She often made very different decisions than Jade did as part of their daily work life, and they'd come to understand over the years that their approaches to things were, despite their obvious compatibility, different.

Which was okay. She often learned things from how Jade worked, and she knew sometimes Jade picked up a trick or two from her. Tori put her head down against Jade's shoulder and fell silent, content to watch the bright lights of the city flash past as the cab driver wound his way through the heavy traffic.

Then they were there. Jade had already handed the driver his fare before Tori could even so much as grab her wallet, and she reflected that in one area, preplanning, Jade really did have it all over her on a very consistent basis.

They got out and joined a stream of people heading for the doors. The range of dress was amazing, and Tori found herself almost goggling at the sight of actual mink wrapped around several women's necks despite the summer heat. "Yikes. I'd croak."

Jade spotted a counter nearby. "Want a drink?" She offered.

"My turn." Tori tapped her on the hip with her purse. "Get us some programs?"

Programs. Jade spotted a woman handing them out, and she headed in that direction. She waited to catch her eye, then accepted two of the handbills. "Thanks."

"No problem, ma'am.. can I see your tickets? Maybe I can direct you…" The usher asked helpfully. "It's a big place."

Jade tucked the bills under her arm and fished the tickets from her purse. "Yeah, sure." She handed them over. "That what you're looking for?"

The woman smiled. "Yes, ma'am, these are easy. Go right , and up that staircase youre in box 4 up front, and it's in the very middle of the row. Best seats in the house." She handed Jade back her tickets. "Enjoy the show!"

"Thanks." Jade studied the tickets in bemusement before tucking them back in her bag. She took the playbills and headed off, intercepting Tori who was carrying two glasses of wine. "I'm told we have good seats." She informed her partner, trading a playbill for a glass.

"Oo." Tori opened the booklet. "The Mikado – I'm trying to remember if I've..hm." She read the synopsis. "No, I've never seen this one."

Hearing her name made her look up, to see an older woman approaching them, waving one hand. Tori had to rack her brains to place her, but fortunately she did just before the woman reached them. "Hello, Ms. Patrick."

"Victoria! How amazing it is to see you here! My gosh, it's been years!" The woman blurted. She was perhaps in her fifties, with silver gray hair and a sophisticated sequined silver gown. "Are you living down here now?"

"No." Tori shook her head. "I live in San Francisco. I'm just in the city for a few days on business." She half turned. "Ms. Patrick, this is Jade West, my partner. Jade, Ms. Patrick was a professor of mine in college."

"Nice to meet you." Jade replied politely. "Professor of..?"

"Computer Science." The woman supplied. "What kind of business, Victoria? I know when you graduated you said you wanted to do something in management, but…"

And she'd been quite sure, Tori suddenly recalled, that Tori wouldn't end up in anything like that at all. "I work for WesTrek." She tasted a deep sense of pleasure in the words.

"Do you? How marvelous!" Ms. Patrick looked vaguely surprised. "In what area? I seem to remember you really liked design."

"I'm the vice president of global operations."

The woman blinked at her in silence for a long moment. "Oh." She finally managed to get out. "Isn't that lovely?"

"I think so." Jade interjected. "Best vice president we've had in years."

The woman looked up at her in puzzled silence for a moment, then a visible light bulb went on over her meticulously coifed head. "Oh my.. are you *that* Jade West?"

Jade merely looked at her, refusing the dignify the question with the obvious answer.

Ms. Patrick backed away. "Well, isn't that great.. nice to have seen you, Victoria. Have a nice time at the show."

Jade waited for the woman to disappear into the crowd, before she turned to her partner. "Enjoy that?"

"Uh huh."

"Good."

They took their drinks and headed into the main hall. Just inside the doors, after surrendering their tickets, they both had to stop and look around in frank wonder.

"Holy catfish." Jade craned her neck and peered around at the vast, grand, art deco infrastructure. "This is gorgeous."

"Uh huh." Tori agreed, blinking at the bright sunset themed colors, which reminded her unnervingly of Key West. "C'mon." She took Jade's arm and lead the way down the aisle.

They settled into their seats, and now that she didn't have to worry about bumping into moth ball smelling matriarchs, Jade found herself free to take in the immensity of the theatre from it's delicate stage arch to the sloping seating. It was an amazing place, and she found herself looking forward to watching whatever it was that was about to start going on.

The Mikado. Jade studied her program. Ah. Japanese intrigue. Maybe there would even be a sword fight. She stretched out her legs, pleased to be in the front row with all the extra room.

Life was good. She glanced aside at Tori, who was merely sitting, her program in her lap, a benignly contented look on her face. "Quarter for your thoughts?"

Tori chuckled, folding her hands over her stomach and exhaling. "I was just thinking about what my family would give to have box seats at Radio City." She admitted. "Going to the theatre in Manhattan was the be all and end all of anyone's social agenda where I came from."

"Ah." Jade wiggled her fingers. "Getting into the X rated movies for free was where I came from." She responded, with a droll grin. "I got really good at picking the locks on the movie theatre back door."

Tori started laughing. "Do you realize the first X rated movie I ever saw was in your living room?" She whispered, catching the stern looks from their neighbors despite the fact that the show had not yet started. "Jesus, people.. chill out!"

"Well." Jade leaned closer to her. "Would you be talking about X-rated movies in front of your family?"

Tori hastily covered her eyes with one hand and bit her lip.

"Didn't think so."

A short time later, the house lights began to lower. Tori tucked her fingers inside Jade's once more, and settled down to watch, resolving to enjoy the moment, the night, and the sense of occasion, even if opera wasn't her favorite thing on earth.

It seemed only a few minutes later when the lights were coming back up, and the show was over. "Wow." Tori murmured. "That was pretty cool." She joined the audience in enthusiastic clapping. "What'd you think?"

"I liked it." Jade agreed. "Funny story, catchy tunes." She added. "And pretty girls. What more could you ask for?"

Tori chuckled. "Hm.. with a lead girl character called Yum-Yum, I should have known you'd like it."

Jade half turned and gave her a mock outraged look, putting one hand on her hip. "Victoria!"

Brown eyes batted their lashes at her with devastating New England innocence. "Yes?"

"Let's go get ice cream." Jade stood up and extended her hand to her partner. "I think you need cooling off."

Tori accepted the aid, and was lifted gracefully to her feet by a smooth contraction of Jade's arm. "Why thank you, ma'am. After you?"

They walked out hand in hand, going along with the slow flow of the audience as it filtered through the tall, beautiful entrance ways and out into the lobby. There was a buzz of conversation, and Tori found herself smiling as she took in a size crowd once very familiar to her. "Honey, I'm going to go use the restroom.. meet you by the bar, there?"

"Nah. I'll go with you." Jade laid a hand on her back as they edged through the press of bodies. "Know what?"

"You're hungry." Tori replied without missing a beat. "I hear you growling back there even over this circus." She jumped a little as Jade growled in her ear, ending the noise with a rumbling purr. "I'm fairly sure there's at least one restaurant around this place."

Jade chuckled, as she pushed the bathroom door open for both of them, extending her arm easily past Tori's body. "This was really nice." She commented. "Remind me to send Alastair a box of cookies or something for it, will you?"

"Sure." Tori found herself a partition and entered. She idly listened to the conversations around her as she went about her business. She heard Jade's low, vibrant voice exchange a mutual excuse me, and then a sharp, very New York accented tone complain bitterly about the quality of toilet paper.

Tori pulled off a few sheets and examined it. "Hey, Jade?"

A soft throat clearing nearby. "Yes?"

"You see this here fancy napkins they put in here?" Tori put as much of a drawl as she was capable of into her tone and was rewarded with a muffled snicker. "I'm going to take me some of these and put them on the table back home."

"Okay, Forrest." Jade replied through a rumble of laughter. "You do that."

Tori finished up and went to the sink, washing her hands while still chuckling under her breath. She wiped her fingers dry and turned to wait for Jade, exchanging glances with a tall redheaded woman also standing by waiting.

"That's a gorgeous tattoo." The woman commented, with a faint nod towards Tori's chest.

Tori blinked, suffering a moment of bewilderment before she looked down at her shoulder and realized the woman was talking about her. "Oh. Thanks." She murmured, peering back up with a bit of sheepish look. "Haven't had it that long."

"You have it done here?" The woman asked, turning her arm to display the point of her shoulder, which had a cobra on it. "I had this done last month."

The cobra was nice, but Tori noticed it lacked the vibrance of her own decoration. "No, I had it done out in California." She replied. "There's a guy there who's a really good artist."

"Yeah, no kidding." The woman leaned closer. "That's very cool." Her eyes studied the mark. "Who's Jade?"

"That would be me."

Tori resisted the urge to look up and over her shoulder. The redhead didn't, however, and she straightened up and took a step backwards when presented with Jade's towering intimidation.

"Well, anyway, congrats on a nice tat." The woman retreated further, grabbing a napkin off the counter before she left the bathroom, taking her somewhat disappointed looking cobra with her.

"Ready?" Tori gave Jade a smile, as she led the way out of the bathroom with her sauntering lover behind her. "You know, that was nice."

"What was, the tp? I'll get you a double case of Charmin at Costco when we get back, okay? You can keep some in your desk drawer."

"That lady liking my tattoo." Tori said. "But I'll remember that offer. I don't know what the heck the facilities people were thinking last month but the stuff they changed to reminds me of grocery bags."

They walked outside, accepting the shock of going from icy chill to muggy heat as something natural. "What's your poison?" Jade asked. "I had Italian last night, but I'll do it again if you want."

Tori licked her lips. "Mm… let's walk down a little bit and see what we find. I don't know if I'm in the mood for that."

The streets were busy around them in a way San Francisco never was. Their home town had no central downtown area, and was in no sense a walking city. It was far more a huge urban and suburban sprawl, extending up and down the coast for three counties made up of clusters of shopping surrounded by clusters of residential areas.

This was a nice change, really, Tori thought. It reminded her a little of the trips she'd occasionally made down here with her debating team, when they'd get away for the afternoon and roam the downtown near their hotel, finding anything that didn't smack to hell of home.

Like Garrett's popcorn. Tori licked her lips in memory, even after all these years. Or the pieces of thick pizza they'd shared on the sidewalk, looking up at the huge, towering buildings. It had been very different than her few trips to Manhattan with her family, that's for sure.

Ah well.

Jade took her hand again as they strolled along, passing brightly lit store fronts and places that became suddenly familiar to them from television. "Hey, look." Tori pointed. "That's where you always see people standing with signs looking like goofballs on the Today show."

"Uh huh." Jade agreed. "Isn't that where that huge Christmas tree goes?"

"And the ice skating rink, yeah." Her companion said. "Can you ice skate?"

Jade pondered the question briefly. "Yes." She finally admitted. "Chinese?" She directed Tori's attention to a storefront one level up. "I could go for something spicy."

"Sounds pretty darn good to me." Tori led the way over to the restaurant. They had just gotten seated when first hers, then Jade's phones went off. "Damn."

Jade removed her device from her purse and keyed it. "Ops center. Never good news."

Tori sighed and lifted her phone, speed dialing and holding the device to her ear as she listened to Jade order for them both. "Hi, it's Tori Vega." She said as the line was answered. "What's up?"

"Oh, hi ma'am." The voice answered. "This is Jason. Sorry to bother you, but Sinjin said I should page out. We had a big forced entry attempt here a little while ago."

Jade's eye brow cocked up, as she caught the tinny sounding words from the phone Tori was holding a little ways away from her ear.

"Successful?" Tori asked.

"Ma'am." Jason managed to sound politely scandalized. "If it had been, you'd be talking to Sinjin right now, not me, that's for sure. No offense."

Jade snorted softly.

"Does Sinjin have a culprit?" Tori asked. "Any ideas, or.."

"He's got some stuff he's tracking down. He wanted me to tell you to tell the boss someone was trying to call her bluff."

Jade's eyes narrowed, and the planes of her face shifted into a dour expression.

"The boss knows." Tori said. "If he finds anything, tell him to call us."

"Will do, ma'am."

Tori folded her phone up and tapped it on the table. "I don't much like the sounds of that."

Jade eased back in her seat, giving the waiter a nod as he delivered two chilled glasses of plum wine. She picked one up and sipped from it before she answered. "It was excessively stupid of me to make that damn claim."

"Oh, well, that's not what I meant…"

"Tori, it was." Jade interrupted her. "Regardless of whether it was true or not, pissing into an open fire hydrant is just plain idiotic. Sinjin's going to be cleaning up after that for months." She glared at her wine. "Bah."

Tori patted her partner on the leg. "It got us good press, sweetie. If Sinjin can keep them at bay, we can get even better press out of it. I have faith in him, and in your infrastructure."

"Hmph." Jade looked mollified, however. "Maybe if he's got a lead on who they are, I can go back on them and nail em." She suggested. "That'd be fun."

"There you go." Tori smiled at the waiter, who appeared with two bowls of steaming hot and sour soup. "Mm.. that smells great."

Jade shot Sinjin a Text. Tori watched her, as she picked up a spoon and sipped her soup. "Sinjin?"

"Yeah."

"You know what would be cool?"

"What?" Jade glanced at her.

"If we had software that could not only detect stuff like this, but proactively go out and find the jerks trying it and turn the tables on them." Tori said. "Couldn't you write something like that, Jade?"

Jade tapped idly on the edge of her phone. "I don't do coding anymore." She demurred. "I haven't even looked at some of the newer languages…"

"Sure you do." Tori disagreed. "You write little things all the time. My dancing gopher, that program that keeps track of our expenses, that database thing Mariela uses… those are all yours."

A half shrug. "That's just little stuff, like you said." But Jade's voice lacked real conviction.

"Wouldn't it be cool?" Tori repeated. "That would be such a killer app, if you could just have it go out and snag these losers. Find a way through all those backdoor portals and all that masking stuff."

Jade's eyes went briefly unfocused. "Hm." She made a noise deep in her throat, low and thoughtful. "That would be cool." She admitted. "Might fit in with some of the heuristic stuff I was looking at… maybe I could take a look at what the structure might need…"

Ahh. Tori smiled inwardly. Caught that mind, I think. "It would be awesome."

Jade scribbled several notes, then keyed something, and scribbled several more. Then she hit send and put away the device, folding her hands over it. "So." She turned her attention fully to Tori. "What were were talking about… toilet paper, right?"

"Toilet paper, and tattoos." Tori lifted her wine glass, and touched it to Jade's. "And pretty little girls named Yum-Yum."

Jade returned the toast, and they both took a sip. "You know.." Jade looked around. "New York's not so bad after all."

"Hear hear." Tori agreed, with a smile. "I'm glad I had a chance to play here with you."

The blue eyes lit as a returning smile appeared. "Me, too." She replied. "Tor, I really appreciate you coming up here. I… um.." Jade's gaze dropped briefly, then lifted again. "I just really do."

Tori put her glass down and reached over to cover Jade's hand with her own. "Any time, sweetie. It made me so happy to do it I about did somersaults in the airplane aisle." She reassured her partner. "I loved being here."

Jade lifted her glass again, and they touched rims, then impishly, she leaned much closer and twined her arm through Tori's. They drank from each other's glass, and took advantage of the restaurant's trendy dimness to share a kiss that lasted one heartbeat short of a scandal.

Ah well. Tori reflected, as they parted and picked up their spoons. If anywhere on earth could handle that, it was New York.

It was big enough to handle just about anything.

It was well after midnight by the time they made it back to the hotel, crossing a much more conspicuously empty lobby and sidestepping an earnestly polishing housekeeper busy getting a purple stain out of the marble flooring.

Tori peered at the stain, trying to imagine what could have caused it. Grape jelly? Grape wine? Eggplant parmigiana?

"You coming?" Jade inquired, watching her with a bemused grin.

"Yup.. yup.. sorry." Tori hastened to join her. "What the heck do you think that is?"

Jade observed the stain. "Hair dye." She dismissed the work and headed for the end of the lobby.

"Hair dye? Jade, it's purple." Tori protested.

"You obviously haven't been looking around too closely." Jade remarked as she pressed the call button. "I've seen more pink and purple hair here than I've seen taxis outside."

"Hm." Tori turned in a circle, shading her eyes and peering at the non-existent crowd. "You think I'd look good in purple hair?"

The doors opened. Jade circled Tori's waist with one arm, then lifted her into the elevator. "No." She replied. "It'd clash with your eyes. C'mon."

"Hm."

They were alone in the elevator. Tori waited for the doors to close before she peeked behind her, only to find pale blue eyes close by, as Jade kissed the sensitive spot where her neck sloped to her shoulders. Without a sound, she let her head drop back to rest against Jade's warm body, luxuriating in the surge of sensuality the touch brought on.

Just being around Jade made her feel sexy. It was amazing. She could be in a ratty old t-shirt with dirt from the little garden at the house on her knees, but one look in those eyes, and pow.

Instant tingling gut shot. Tori had been attracted to people before she'd met Jade, but this was different, and it had taken a bit of getting used to. At first it had almost shocked her, this demand of her body that overrode her conservative upbringing with effortless ease.

But eventually, she'd gotten used to it, and then, she'd found herself really enjoying the frank sexuality she and Jade shared.

It was nice. She tilted her head and they kissed, as Jade's arms slid around her and began a lazy tracing up and down her sides. It made her feel great.

The ride could have gone on a lot longer. But the car slowed at their floor soon enough, and Jade's hold shifted to her shoulders as the doors opened to let them out. Their floor was quiet and empty, and their steps on the carpet sounded loud as they went down the hallway and opened the door to their room.

It was equally cool and quiet inside. The drapes were pulled open to show the city lights, and there was a neat tray on the table containing a silver pot, two cups, and a small note. Jade walked over to pick the note up and examine it, while Tori went to the window to look out.

"Hot chocolate. Compliments of the management." Jade mused. "Takes them three days to realize I'm here?"

Tori chuckled, and shook her head. "Maybe they just want to stay on your good side."

"I have one?" Her partner asked mildly, as she wandered off towards the bathroom.

Tori turned and watched her disappear. "Mmhm." She nodded to herself. "But that one's not bad either." She sat down on the edge of the windowsill and kicked her shoes off, wiggling her toes as they celebrated their freedom from the snug leather.

"Hm." She got up and snagged the shoes, walking over to tuck them into the outer pocked on her overnight bag. She was a little tired, but not sleepy, and she straightened up in reflex as she heard Jade emerge again from the bathroom.

"What're you up to?" Jade asked, coming up behind her.

"Getting naked. Unzip me?" Tori let out a small sigh as Jade's fingers touched the back of her neck, then slid down to unzip the back of her dress. "That was an awesome night."

"Was?" Jade nibbled Tori's skin, ending up with her partner's right earlobe between her teeth.

Tori's eyes closed in pure reflex. "Mmm." Jade eased the dress off her, and she stepped out of it, turning around to circle Jade's equally undressed body with her arms and indulge in a nice warm hug. There was still a hint of chocolate fudge on the lips she was kissing, and she felt Jade laugh softly as she gave them a lick. "Okay… so it's been an awesome night so far, with every indication of getting even more awesome now."

Jade's touch eased over Tori's ribs, tickling them mischievously. "I had a great time so far too." She informed her partner, swaying a little to a rhythm only her inner ear could apparently hear. "I even had fun dancing."

"So I see." Tori let her hands rest on Jade's hips, as she swayed along with her. "I don't know why you always say you can't dance… you're a great dancer. You move.. like magic." She eased closer and brushed up against Jade's bare belly, putting a light kiss across the top of her breastbone.

"Magic?" The low voice purred. "Are you asking me to pull a rabbit out of somewhere, Victoria?"

"Hmmm…." Tori drew a line with her fingertips down the center of Jade's body. "I can't think of where you'd hide one, except…Ooo."

Jade laced her fingers behind Tori's neck and tilted her head up, exploring her lips as she gently nudged them both towards the bed. She definitely had a size advantage, but Tori wasn't resisting, and in fact now had hold of her by the waist and was pulling her steadily forward.

They tumbled together into the neatly turned down sheets, pausing only to dig the small wrapped chocolates out from underneath them. Jade chucked them gently over her head. "Remind me to have a word with the front desk tomorrow."

"Less poky snacks?" Tori wriggled closer , sliding one thigh between Jade's and cupping a hand around her breast. "They meant well."

Jade didn't bother answering that. She let her fingertips trace lazy lines across Tori's skin, feeling the muscles underneath shift and tense. Delicately, she kissed Tori's new tattoo, her sensitive nose detecting just a hint of moisturizer and a strange, faintly spicy smell she figured must be the ink.

It was new, and different, but she decided she liked it. She turned her attention lower, nibbling down across the curve of Tori's breast. The surface lifted under her touch as Tori inhaled sharply, and Jade paused briefly just to lean forward and press her body lightly against her partner's, letting her skin slide over Tori's skin.

Tori arched up against her, wanting the contact. Jade was more than glad to oblige, rolling on her side and stroking the restlessly moving body shifting to wrap itself around hers.

God, that felt good.

Jade felt her own breathing speed up as she felt Tori's teasing touch slid up her leg, a soft chuckle warm and knowing coming to her ears as her partner nibbled familiar spots and started a gentle, but insistent dance they both knew well.

She'd never been with anyone long enough before Tori to let them get to know her. Being in bed with someone who was so intimately aware of what she liked and had a sweetly passionate interest in showing it was..

Well, it was a gift. Jade traced the outline of Tori's face with her thumb, enjoying a lingering kiss and the rumbling little purr that escaped from her partner's throat. She felt a gentle pressure and gave with it, rolling onto her back to feel the cool sheets warm to her skin.

Tori mock pounced on top of her, brown eyes glinted with seductive glee. "Gotcha." She growled, ducking her head down to nip Jade's throat, working her way downward, pausing to nibble at a very sensitive spot. "Mine."

Jade felt s shiver ripple down her body, a mixture of passion and emotional reaction.

"Grr." Tori rested her chin on Jade's breastbone for a second, her eyes fastened on her partner's, narrowing a little. "Mine." She repeated, with a grin.

The world shifted a little around her. "Body, heart and soul." Jade agreed, returning the smile. "Always have been."

Tori's eyes simply lit up from within.

Then she repeated her nipping, surprising a low cough from Jade's chest. "Heh." Tori claimed her property without further delay, hearing the echo of a gentle laugh as she pressed her body down, feeling the heat ignite between them.

Outside a siren howled past, accompanied by a crescendo of honking horns, seeming oddly appropriate to the moment.

Tori woke the next morning to a splash of sunlight. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and glanced at the clock, stifling a curse as she saw the time. Then her brow cleared, and she relaxed, realizing it was Saturday and they didn't have to be up if they didn't want to be.

So she put her head back down, but tilted it a little so she could see Jade's face as her partner lay sleeping next to her. Even disheveled in bed, it was a nice sight to wake up to, and she spent a few minutes avidly studying the planed face next to her.

Completely relaxed, the little worried furrow she'd seen over Jade's eyes was at last erased, and she appeared to be at peace. A faint twitch moved across her cheek, and her eyes flickered briefly as well under their silken lids.

A dream, maybe? Tori felt a warm pulse of affection stir within her as she watched in silence. Hope it's a good one. The faintest tug at the corners of her subject's lips allayed her concerns, though and she made a mental note to ask Jade what she'd been dreaming of when she woke up.

If she remembered, that is. Jade often didn't.

Tori felt a little of the concern that had been gnawing at her guts ease, and as she lay there tallying up the last few days she felt pretty satisfied with where they both were.

Jade's problem was resolved. Not in the way she would have done it certainly, but it was resolved and much to the client's favor. Tori mentally ticked that one off. Now, her problem with the cruise ship bid – well - that was still a big mess.

It would have been more useful if she'd stayed in San Francisco and worked on resolving some of the problems with it. Tori knew that. Her walking out on Shari and Michelle, and the startling intervention of Mayte and Mariela was going to make the entire situation worse, and she knew that also.

And yet, even knowing all that, she would not have changed her decision if she had the chance to go back and redo it. Tori let her hand rest on Jade's stomach, her thumb idly smoothing over the baby fine down that covered her skin. She just didn't have any second thoughts.

A soft sound outside the room made her pick her head up again. Glancing up at Jade's still peaceful face, Tori eased away from her partner and slid out from under the covers. She grabbed the do not disturb flag and trotted to the door, only pausing when she had her hand on the door handle and was about to turn it.

She looked down at herself. "Jesus." She muttered, hastening back to the chair and snagging her sleep shirt from it. She pulled it on over her head, then headed back towards the entrance.

The soft clanking that had alerted her repeated itself, and as she quickly ducked outside and stuck the placard in place, she spotted the housekeeping cart just one room away. "Whew." Tori shut the door again. "That was close."

"What was?" Jade's sleepy voice drifted over. "Where are you?"

"Right here." Tori went back to the bed and sat down on the edge of it. "I didn't want the cleaning people to wake you up."

Jade was lying on her back with her arms outstretched. She turned her head to look at the clock, then looked back over at Tori with a wry expression.

"Well…" Tori slid back under the covers and snuggled up against Jade's left side, putting her head on her partner's shoulder and hugging her. "I was trying to be quiet."

"You were." Jade enfolded her with both arms and exhaled happily. "Nice to sleep late for a change."

"Considering what time we went to bed?" Tori giggled. "Uh.. yeah."

"Mm." Jade's eyes closed again. "I just had the craziest dream. You were dancing in a clown suit."

Mental note. Tori peered over the curve of her partner's breast. Don't ask Jade about dreams. "Um…"

"It was really cute." Jade went on sleepily. "You had this hat on, and…" Her eyes opened and she looked over as Tori covered her mouth with one hand. "Ermf?"

"I've never told you this." Tori blinked solemnly at her. "But I hate clowns."

The dark eyebrows hiked up.

Tori sat up and leaned over, removing her hand and giving Jade a kiss. "So keep your circus images behind closed doors, okay?" She pointed a finger at Jade playfully. "You want me to call Lloyd?"

"You hate clowns? Really?"

"Yes." The brunette stretched out on her side. "Lloyd?"

Jade didn't immediately answer, prompting Tori to look over at her in question.

"Yeah, I guess." The taller woman finally answered.

"You guess?"

Jade shrugged. "It's not so bad here, now that you're around."

Tori drew a few little circles on the surface of Jade's skin. "Hm. I had fun last night… and there's a few places around here I'd like to see, like the Empire State building, but y'know honey…."

Jade sighed. "I know." She acknowledged. "But to be honest, there's a mess back there I just don't want to deal with."

Ah. Tori mirrored the sigh. "I was just thinking about that before I got up." She confessed. "Crap, what a screwed up thing I did. You should smack me."

Jade's eyebrows contracted sharply.

"I don't want to deal with it either."

They were both silent for a little while, only the faint sounds of the city filtering through the window audible in the room. Then Jade curled her arm around Tori's body, pulling her close as she gave her a kiss on the top of her head. "Tell you what."

"Mm?"

"I'll deal with the Mayte and Mariela audition for Jerry Springer show…"

Tori muffled a laugh against Jade's shoulder.

"You assemble the ops team for the bid."

"It's not fair for you to clean up my mess, Gigi." Tori stated quietly.

"Life's not fair. I think I told you that once." Jade replied, with a touch of humor. "It'll be easier for me to do it , because I wasn't there."

"Mmph."

"Deal?"

A sigh. "Yeah." Tori reluctantly agreed. "And how about I book LLoyd for an evening flight, and we do the typical tacky tourist thing today."

"What's left of today." Jade said. "Alright. Let's do it."

Compromise wasn't always either exciting or perfect. Tori thought. But if you had a pile of dog poop to carry, it sure made it easier if someone else carried half. She gave Jade another hug, and reconciled herself to scooper duty, hoping at least they'd remember to bring little plastic bags.