Back in the closet together... you'll see what I mean.

Forty

Tori leaned back in her chair, balancing her keyboard on her lap as she typed out a spurt of emails dealing with two of the minor projects she was supervising along with the ship one. In the time since she'd gotten back from lunch with Jade, she'd gotten a lot done as well as felt her earlier aggravation dissipate.

She had noticed, recently, that Jade's presence tended to do that to her. It wasn't anything her partner did or said, particularly – but if she was angry or upset, hanging around Jade just made her feel better. Even when she was hurting; if she had a headache or a bellyache, she'd curl up with her head in Jade's lap and it would all just go away.

Why was that? She wondered idly. It had been really noticeable that afternoon when she'd come down for lunch. She'd been steaming as she stepped off the elevator – but when she spotted Jade heading her way, her blood pressure had dropped and the knots in her gut had eased the minute they came together.

Ah well. Tori shook her head a bit, and went back to her typing. Certainly, Jade wasn't around to make her feel warm and fuzzy right now. Her partner was stuck in the downstairs closet again, testing her new program.

Which reminded her. She hit the button for a new message and addressed it to Sinjin.

Hey – Jade's testing some new code downstairs. So if you see freaky things, it might be her.

She hesitated a minute, then continued.

Sorry I went off today. I should be used to the talk by now, but when it comes to Jade, I never am. Thanks for letting me know about it.

T

She hit send.

A small box popped up in one corner. Hey.

Tori grinned.

Hey.

Do we have marshmallows at home?

Marshmallows? Tori nibbled her lower lip thoughtfully. Marshmallows had never been a particular favorite of hers, since she found them relatively tasteless and preferred to squander her calories on something more appropriate such as chocolate. I don't think so.. why?

There was a faint pause before the answer, and then it popped up. I want rice crispy treats.

A new message popped into her inbox. Tori clicked on it while she considered what she should respond to that request with.

Hey, Tori –

No problem, I know big J's A number 1 on your list. Thanks for telling me she's down in the dungeon – I haven't seen anything yet but with her you never do until it's too late.

Oh, that's not really true. Tori shook her head back and forth. Sometimes she's just very very obvious.

Anyway, sorry all that stuff got dredged up. People just talk shit because it's how they make themselves feel better about not being you guys.

Tori read that last bit a few times, then shrugged. Personally, she just viewed the talk as venal human nature. It was easy for her to rationalize it that way, but far more difficult for her to ignore it when it was directed at Jade, and not at her. For herself – she'd been talked about since she was old enough to realize what that meant.

She keyed the instant message box and typed a reply. If you swing by Safeway on the way home, I'll make you some. She hit enter, and then typed another message. I hear they're really good when you dip them in hot fudge.

The answer came back immediately. Why not? You are.

"Yerk." Tori muffled a squeak. You are such a punk. They could be random logging this, y'know!

And?

Yeah, and?

What are they going to find out, we're lovers? Whoohoo.. news flash.. call Panic Seven. Tori wrinkled her nose and grinned again in acknowledgment.

How's it going?

Good. You?

Tori reviewed her inbox and sighed. There were a number of mails backed up waiting her attention, and she knew she had to plow through them if she wanted any chance of getting out of the office early the next day. Eh. I'll be here a while.

Surprisingly, an answer came right back again. Me too. How about we meet for a romantic dinner over a pile of cat five later on?

She simply regarded the note for a while, a fond look crossing her face. I love you. She typed back, hesitating, and then just hitting send. Really, was there anything that needed to be added to that? She clicked back on her mail and continued to type, justifying for the nth time why new computers had to be budgeted for and not just plucked out of a non-existent it genie bag.

"Keeeeeeerrrrry."

She jumped, and then looked at her screen. Gopher Jade was back, peeking around her email program and waving. "Oh, my god, she got it to talk! C'mere, you little rascal." Her mouse pointer chased after the critter, and she poked him in the tail a few times. "Aggghhh.. gotcha!"

Far from being disturbed, Gopher Jade turned and waggled his behind at her, then somersaulted over and ended up sitting down. "I llooooooooovvvvvvveeeee youooo…" He warbled. "Youurrreee the best!"

"Oh, my god." Tori repeated, biting her lower lip. "That's just too cute." She continued, in a softer voice.

Her office door opened, and Mayte poked her head in. "Did you call for me, Tori?"

"Shh." Tori admonished Gopher Jade. "No, I was just talking to myself." She directed her attention to Mayte. "Sorry – I'm trying to get some of this mail cleared up. Did you need me for something?"

Her assistant entered and walked over to her visitor chairs, sitting down on the left hand side one. "I have a little question for you." Mayte said. "I really want to understand more about what we are doing so much of the time. Could I ask you which class I can take? In my school, we did a lot with software, and programs. We did not do so much with the networks."

Ah. Career advice. Tori gladly turned her attention from her mail, though reluctantly from Gopher Jade, and focused on Mayte's slim form. "Well, I can fully appreciate how you feel, Mayte. I had some experience with infrastructure before I started here, but it's been a learning curve for me too. The best person to really ask about that is Jade. She's the expert."

Gopher Jade chittered softly. Tori clicked on him. "You hush."

"Excuse me?" Mayte gave her a puzzled look.

"C'mere." Tori motioned for her to come around the desk. "Want to see something really cute?"

Mayte willingly got up and circled the desk, peering over Tori's shoulder. "What is that?" She asked, as Tori chased the little critter around the screen. "Oh, look!So Cute!"

"This is Gopher Jade." Tori pinned him down by the tail, and watched his tiny feet scrabble. "He was talking a minute ago."

Mayte gave her boss a faintly skeptical look. "Really??" She asked. "But what is it? Where does it come from?"

Gopher Jade sashayed across the screen, doing a little dance. He had on a tank top and shorts, and incongruous rubber boots today. "Keeeeerrrrry…" He warbled.

"Oh!" Mayte covered her mouth.

"He comes from Jade." Tori explained. "It's a program of hers that she works on when she's not doing anything else, and every so often she sends this little guy over here to interact with me."

Mayte leaned a little closer. "Wow."

Gopher Jade waved at her. Then he did another little dance.

"He really cheers me up most of the time. "Tori smiled. "And it's an amazing program – it's different every time. She puts different clothes on him; he does different things… her talent as a programmer is amazing."

"He is blushing." Mayte noted, with a grin. "So cute."

"So, anyway… as I was saying, Jade's the expert on what makes this place tick. But I think she'd agree that you should take a basic class on networking fundamentals to start with, and get the terminology down." Tori flipped over to a different screen, and called up a browser window. "We've got classes internally... here. Look at this set first." She pointed.

"Ooooo..." Gopher Jade warbled approvingly. "Gooooooddd."

They both started laughing. "Tori, that is so adorable." Mayte said. "And it is nothing serious – it is just for fun, yes?"

"Sure." But Tori suddenly wasn't so sure about that. Gopher Jade had started making more and more frequent appearances lately, and she wondered if working with the little guy wasn't Jade's way of exercising her programming chops to ease her growing restlessness. "Is that not clever, or what?"

"Absolutely." Mayte agreed. "I wish I had one! It is like a little friend. I think my cousin found a little cat program something like this, but it was not nearly so smart. It went to sleep, and it made a purr, and that kind of thing."

"I've seen that." Tori said. "They have a puppy, too. But nothing like Gopher Jade."

Gopher Jade had lain down on his side, and was simply gazing out at her. Tori resisted the urge to reach out and scratch his nose. "So. Does that answer your question about classes?'

"oh, yes it does." Mayte eased out from behind Tori's chair and came to stand in front of the desk again. "I will look at that website and sign up for one today. Is it all right if I make it at the end of the day, and go after we are done here?"

"Sure." Tori agreed. "But think about it –sometimes people do class better in the morning." She paused, and a wry grin appeared. "Not that I was one of those people, but you know what I mean."

"Yes, I know." Mayte agreed mournfully. "Mama has to pull me out of my bed in the morning. So I think the afternoon is better." She turned to go. "Thank you, Tori, and also for showing me your very cute friend. It is a very good program."

"I think so." Tori gazed affectionately at the little creature. "I work on him a little sometimes… every once in a while I send him back over to bother Jade. She gets a kick out of it." She looked up. "But I'm not in her league when it comes to that."

"She is very talented." Mayte smiled. "You are very lucky, I think."

"I'm very lucky, I know." Tori gave her a little wave, as she left. "I do know that for sure." She returned her attention reluctantly to her mail, almost hoping that Gopher Jade would come up with something else to distract her.

Which sucked, actually, since she had to get her damn mail done. Tori frowned, focusing on the next page of complaints.

Hey, Tor?

Ah. An even more welcome distraction. Yes, Gopher Mom?

You tied to that desk?

Tori drummed her fingertips on her keyboard. You got a network connection for my laptop down there? Say yes and I'll go keep you company in your pile of cat five.

Gopher Jade got up and started scooting around the corner of her screen, beckoning her to follow. Tori clicked on him, waiting for the message to come back.

C'mon. I've got a nice dusty piece of concrete with your name on it right next to me.

Ah, it just didn't get any more romantic than that. Tori closed her mail and stood up. Be right there. She typed into the screen, before she closed down the desktop and grabbed her brief case. "But you know." She remarked to the empty office. "Only love struck nitwits with zero sense would trade a nice comfortable leather chair for a piece of dusty concrete."

She shouldered her laptop. "One nitwit, en route." Tori headed for the door, giving her new boxing dummy a wink as she scooted out of the room.

The soft sounds of classic rock echoed against the concrete walls, interrupted erratically by the patter of keystrokes on two keyboards.

Jade was seated on the ground between two tall racks, her long legs extended under them as she leaned back against a third. Tori had taken a position right next to her, sitting cross-legged on the hard concrete with her laptop balanced on her knees.

Neither of them was talking. Both of them were concentrating on what they were doing, and yet the atmosphere in the small room was one of total, absorbed, contentment.

Tori clicked send on her mail, and reviewed her inbox. The stack of messages she'd needed to take care of had decreased by over half in a surprisingly short amount of time, and she was beginning to see the light at the end of her email tunnel. "Know something? We should work down here more often."

Jade finished typing a line, and grunted. "Uh huh." She compiled the program she'd just finished, and opened a run window, starting the program and watching the results as it executed. "Ahhhh…"

Tori rested her cheek against Jade's shoulder and peered at the screen. "Working now?"

"Uh huh." Her partner agreed. "Hang on to your socks. I'm gonna run it against the backup router." She clicked over to a different screen and pulled it to one side, adjusting a monitoring parameter until she was satisfied with it. "Okay."

It was fun and interesting watching Jade work. Tori waited for her to start the program again, and then switched her attention to the monitor. The gauges jumped and fluttered, indicating *something* was going on, but it was hard to tell what effect the program was having.

So, she remained quiet and waited for Jade to comment on it. She'd been acceptably competent at the programming she'd done in school, but it had never been a passion of hers, and this was not only complex, it was cryptic in a way that only Jade could be.

"Eh." Jade folded her arms and regarded the screen.

"Is it doing what you want it to?" Tori hazarded.

"No." Her partner replied. "But it's doing something useful, which I hadn't anticipated."

"Hm. Is that good or bad?"

Jade rested her head against Tori's. "I don't know yet. Give it a few minutes." She studied the screen. "See here?" She pointed with one long finger. "I wanted it to analyze the headers and determine multiple instances of same sender, but what it's actually doing is logging out of sequence packets."

Tori looked at the screen, then at her partner. "That's useful?"

Jade nodded. "Yeah, because that's a symptom sometimes of a dictionary attack – something just throwing guesses at the router and masking its own IP."

"Ah hah." Tori murmured approvingly. "So that's progress."

"Mm. At least it's not crapping out every six seconds now." Jade agreed. "How's your mail coming?"

Tori snuggled a little closer. "Fine." She said. "I knocked out a lot of it… its really nice and peaceful down here... I can see why you decided to do the test this way."

"Mmhm." Jade nuzzled her hair a little. "And it's perfect now."

Aww. Tori figured if she had a tail, it'd be wiggling big time. Ridiculous really, since they were sitting on a dirty concrete floor surrounded by humming network gear in a room that stank of damp stone and electrons.

But who cared? "So, what's next?"

Jade left her program running, while she called up her coding screen and made a few corrections. "Take another baby step, that's what." She cleared her throat a little, and continued pecking away.

"Mm." Tori shifted and set her laptop aside. "I'm going to get a soda... interested?" She waited for Jade to nod, and then she got up and stretched, reaching down to ruffle her partner's dark hair. "Be right back." She stepped carefully over the cables on the floor and pulled the door open, escaping from the small room into the hallway that led to the lobby.

It was after five, and the building was quieting down. The café on the ground floor was closed, and the cleaning people were beginning to pop out like night owls, starting the task of scouring the place. Tori walked across the mostly empty lobby towards the ground floor break room, giving the guard a wave as she passed his desk.

"Hey, Ms. Vega." The man waved back. "You still here? Thought you were gone for the day – Michael passed by your office and said it was closed up."

"Nope." Tori shook her head. "I'm working on a project in the main telco room." She pointed back the way she'd come from. "Probably be there a while yet. Was someone looking for me?"

"Yeah.' The guard said. "Matter of fact – a lady came to the front guard desk over there and wanted to talk to you. That's why Michael went up." He got up and met Tori as she slowed down. "Here. She left a card."

Tori took it, cocking her head a little in puzzlement over the name. It wasn't one she recognized, and she certainly had no idea what a real estate agent would want with her. "Um... okay." She half shrugged, and stuck the cardboard slip into her back pocket. "Thanks... I don't think I'm in the market for what she's selling, but who knows?"

The guard shrugged also. "Have no idea, ma'am." He cleared his throat. "Ah, do you know if Ms. West is here too? I saw her car still outside, but her office is closed up."

"She's here." Tori turned to continue her task. "We're working together on this project. You need her?"

"No ma'am." The man shook his head. "Is that the security zone in the inside corridor?"

"Yep." Tori started to walk off. "We'll be there if you need us." She continued across the marble tile floor and into the inner hallway, pushing open the non-descript door and crossing from public splendor to linoleum tiled plainness in the space of a step.

It reminded her of the ship, a little. The difference between the passenger areas and the crew. Tori stopped in front of the big soda machine, reviewing her choices. "Ah." She popped some coins in, and selected a button, waiting for the bottle to drop before she applied more coins, and made a second choice.

The bottle rattled down, and she opened the bottom flap to retrieve Jade's Yoohoo and her own root beer. Whistling softly under her breath, she headed back out to the lobby.

Jade had set her laptop down, and she was now walking around, stretching her body out and easing the stiffness from sitting on the ground for so long. Above her head, the cable ladders stretched to either side, bearing their weight of multicolor strands.

Experimentally, Jade reached up and grasped the ladder bars, pulling her body up and letting the metal take the weight of her body for a short time.

Satisfied the structure wasn't going to collapse, she took a better hold, then lifted herself up again and got her legs up over the top of the ladder, hooking them securely through the rungs.

Then she released her arms and hung down, letting her spine relax. "Ahh." She let her hands dangle as she flexed them, feeling the soft pops as her vertebra eased into place. It felt good, and was something she hadn't done in a long, long time.

Since the weekend she'd spent in this very room upgrading every piece of equipment in it, in fact. Jade swung back and forth a little, enjoying the motion and the memories. She'd just been a tech then, before she'd decided to make some money moves.

Looking back along that curve now, Jade found herself wondering a little if that move had been the right one after all. Here she was, years later, right back in this closet doing something she could have easily paid an entire roomful of programmers to do instead of getting involved.

So why was she doing it? Just to have something to do and stay out of Tori's way? Jade grimaced. Oh that was an attractive thought. Maybe she'd let herself be promoted past her competency, like she was always accusing Jose of.

Ah, Jade. She sighed at herself. You can't really complain, can you? After all, if you'd stayed a grunt, chances are you'd never have met Tori, right?

No, probably not. Jade swung back and forth a little more, and thought about how much more she'd gotten done after Tori had joined her today. She'd been less restless, and more focused, and suddenly it occurred to her that the more she separated herself from her partner and her projects, the antsier she tended to be.

It was so obvious, once she'd thought of it that she almost slapped herself on the head. "Damn." In her efforts to distance herself from Tori's efforts, and let her partner fly on her own – was she sending herself down the stupid path?

Didn't they really work better as a team?

Didn't they?

The outer door opened, and she was graced with the sight of her lover from an interesting perspective. "Hi."

"What are you doing?" Tori walked in, let the door shut, and set the sodas down before she came over to where Jade was hanging like a bat. "You have no idea how funny you look."

"Just stretching." Jade said. "It's good for your back." She reached out and gave Tori a poke in the belly. "Join me?"

Tori studied her, and grinned. "If you say so, honey. I'll take your word for it. Last time I did that, I fell out of a tree and my mother nearly had me hogtied for a month for it." She admitted. "Wasn't a pretty sight."

Jade reached up and caught hold of the bars, reversing her position and letting herself down onto the ground again upright. She reached around Tori to pick up her Yoohoo bottle, ending up in an intentional hug as Tori bumped up against her. "You're always a pretty sight."

The brunette wrapped her arms around Jade and gave her a powerful squeeze. "And you're the best thing my ego's ever, ever had." She sighed. "Dear god, you make me feel ten feet tall sometimes, Jade."

Jade nodded a little to herself, and accepted the fact that her judgment had been off. It happened sometimes, but in this case, she had an idea of what to do to correct it.

"Mm." Tori hesitated. "Jade…"

"I think I like it when we work together." Jade commented casually. "Even when we're not on the same project. I like having you here."

Unexpected, but startlingly identical to the words that were running through Tori's mind as well. "Wow." She murmured. "I was about to say the same thing." She let her hands rest on Jade's waist. "You know something? I think that's why I've been so rattled over this ship project." She looked up. "Jade, I don't need you holding my hand on it..." A sigh. "But I want you there… I want us to beat them. Not just me."

"All right." Jade leaned her forearms on Tori's shoulders and touched her forehead to her partner's. "And I want you guiding me on this security package. I need your judgment."

The concrete and steel suddenly became magic, framing the moment indelibly. Tori felt an impish grin forming on her lips, smothered a moment later when Jade kissed them.

She sincerely hoped there weren't any cameras.