Eighteen

Tori studied her nicely chilled cookie dough seriously. "What do you think, Chino?" She asked, leaning both hands on the marble counter. "Do you think your mommy would settle for just plain, ordinary cookies?"

"Gruff."

"Mm.. no, I don't think so either." Tori turned and went to one of the drawers, pulling it open and rummaging in it. "You know, I never, ever though I'd ever use that old Christmas gift of Aunt Eenie's, Chino, I really didn't. I just never did see myself wearing an apron, making batches of cookies for the kiddies."

"Gruff."

Tori removed what she was looking for and took it back to the counter, opening a baggie and dumping out a pile of thin aluminum. "Hm." Her finger pushed aside several. "Christmas tree, no… Pumpkin.. no… four leaf clover.. no.. ah." She selected one and held it up. "That's the ticket."

Going back to her dough, she positioned the cutter and pressed it down. "So, here I am, Chino… standing in the kitchen, in an apron, making heart shaped cookies." She reviewed her work, removing the heart and placing in on the already buttered baking pan. "And I'm loving every minute of it. What's up with that?"

"Gruff."

"What's up with that?" Tori repeated, in a much softer voice. "Biological clock or not, I think it's just that I have so much love inside me for your mommy, that it's always looking for a way to come out, and I guess this is one of the ways." She finished arranging her cookies and checked the oven, opening the door and sliding the tray inside. "You think your mommy knows that?"

Something in the look she'd seen in Jade's eyes that morning when they'd woken up together had bothered her. She almost thought she'd imagined it – but the more she thought about it the more she knew she hadn't, and it reminded her of the early days of their relationship when she'd sometimes catch a hint of what could almost be fear lurking in those pale baby blues.

She knew where it had come from. Tori's eyes narrowed a little, as she rolled a ball of cookie dough between her fingers. It had come from that number one whore bitch Shari, who Tori would have dearly loved to punch right in the nose.

"Oh yeah." She let out a half laugh. "That'd look great on Tech TV, Tor. You taking down a rival in a catfight in the middle of the convention floor." Tori tossed the cookie dough ball at Chino's nose. The Labrador snapped it out of mid air and swallowed it, looking up hopefully for more. "Eh. Probably been the best ratings they'd had all year. No more, you little pig dog."

The dog sighed, warming Tori's leg. With a smile, Tori sat down on the floor next to her, and started petting her soft fur. She leaned back against the counter and savored a moment of quiet satisfaction, glad as well that her cramps had finally eased off and gone completely away.

Part of that was due to a new discovery of Jade's. Tori laid her hand on her belly, feeling the residual heat from a small packet stuck to the outside of her underwear. It was like a portable heating pad, about four inches by two, right where the warmth could do the most good.

Just too cool. Tori marveled. And it had lasted over twelve hours. "Technology's a fantastic thing, Chi. You hear all those people say how the good old days used to be? Not me. Give me the cutting edge any time." With a stifled yawn, she got up and wandered into the living room, going over to the sliding glass doors to peer out at the moon spattered sea.

Jade would be fine. Tori leaned against the glass, watching her breath fog it slightly. She just need a few extra reminders of how much their relationship meant to both of them, and just how wrong Shari had been all those years ago about everything she'd said to Jade.

Bitch. Tori felt her own hands tense. "God, I hate her." She whispered, feeling the passion in the words. "She better stay home this time, Chino. Stay the hell in Orange County and away from San Francisco if she knows what's good for her."

"Grrr." Chino spotted something outside and let out a low growl.

"What is it, Chi?" Tori shaded her eyes and looked, but all she could see was the moon reflecting off the sea, and a few palm fronds waving. "Or were you agreeing with me?" She lifted her head as the delicate scent of baking cookies wafted in from the kitchen. "Oo.. you smell that, girl? Let's go see how they're doing."

Chino followed her into the kitchen, but two steps inside the dog stopped and turned, frisking back out into the living room.

Tori just grinned and kept going, peeking inside the stove as she kept one ear cocked for sounds from the other room. She heard the canine yodel of greeting, and only just prevented herself from repeating it. Then she figured what the heck, and did anyway, lifting her voice up in a weird counterpoint to Chino's. "AwwwrrrooooO!"

"What in the hell is that?" Jade answered, easing into the kitchen with a blond Labrador glued to her knee. "Is there a duck dying in here?" She'd taken her jacket off, and untucked her silk shirt, and now she sidled up behind Tori and rested her chin on Tori's shoulder, peering through the tinted glass of the oven.

"Quack." Tori finished checking the cookie's progress. Then she turned around and faced Jade. Before her partner could step back, she lifted her hands up and gently caught her face, pulling it down to give her a nice, long, heartfelt kiss. "But I bet ducks don't do that."

"Not nearly as well as you do." Jade moved closer and slid her arms around Tori. "Hi."

Tori hugged her. "Hey, sweetie. Glad you're here." She felt Jade's chest move suddenly as she inhaled, and tightened her grip instinctively. "Eerrf. Chino and I were just talking about you."

Now Jade's body jerked again, for a different reason as a chuckle emerged. "Oh yeah? What'd she have to say about me?" She rested her forearms on Tori's shoulders as they parted and looked at each other. "Was she complaining about my CD's again?"

"She was bitching that you were late, and she had to wait to get some cookies." Tori let her hands rest casually on Jade's hips. "That didn't take long."

"I said a half hour." Jade glanced at the kitchen clock. "So what have you been up to, besides baking?" She reached up and ruffled Tori's hair. "I like the snips." Her voice warmed with approval. "This looks really cute on you."

"Got my car done, got my hair done, got our laundry done, paid the bills…" Tori ticked off her accomplishments. "Wrote you a poem." She finished, a trifle shyly, still unsure of her skills in that particular arena. "It's been a good day."

Poem? Jade felt a faint flush of surprised pleasure. Tori had written some poems she'd shown her, sure – one had even been about her. "What kind of poem?" She didn't recall any that had been written for her, however, and the thought intrigued her.

Distracted her, in fact, from the disturbing revelations in the bar.

Tori produced a grin. "Well, let's get our cookies and milk, and you can come read it. Decide for yourself what kind of poem it is." She tugged open the oven door and put a mitt on her hand, then pulled the tray out and set it on wooden holders she'd put earlier on the counter. "Mm."

Jade peered over her shoulder with deep interest. "Mm, is right." She sniffed delicately. "Are those hearts?"

Tori nodded, gently easing them free of their baking sheet with a wafer thin spatula and putting them on a wire rack to cool. "Yep, they sure are." She felt Jade's warm breath on her ear and half turned, pressing her cheek against her partner's. "Just wanted to make sure you knew where those little chocolate chips came from."

"Tori?"

"Mm?"

"It's too warm for it to be my birthday." Jade slid both arms around Tori's body and simply held her, watching the cookies make their slow progress. "So why does it feel like it?"

Tori carefully selected one of the smaller specimens and broke it in half, handing a chunk almost dripping with chocolate over her shoulder. "No reason." She took a careful bite, making an approving noise at the taste. "We should let these cool."

"Where's the fun in that?" Jade sucked in air to cool her stinging tongue. "You bring the rack, I'll get a jug of milk. Meet you on the couch."

Tori was more than glad to oblige. She followed Jade into the living room, nearly tripping over a wildly tail wagging Chino and settled into the soft leather of the couch.

Jade dropped off the milk, but kept going towards the bedroom, unbuttoning her shirt as ducked through the door. "I'm going to take off this damn suit and put on something more comfortable."

"Naked works." Tori commented, grinning when she heard the dry chuckle from the next room. "I like that suit on you, by the way. I think it really looks good." She selected a channel idly, turning the sound down as Jade returned in a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. "On second thought, I like that outfit better."

Jade eased onto the couch, laying down on her side and extending her long legs along the leather surface. "Glad you had a better day than I did." She said. "I'm gonna have to go up to New York tomorrow night. That damn project is turning out to be a bigger hog than they admitted to at first."

"Boo hiss." Tori patted her thigh, smiling as Jade inched over and settled her head on the spot. "Just overnight?" She riffled her fingers through the dark, soft hair now spilling over her bare leg.

"Yeah, I'll be back Wednesday, probably late."

Tori picked up a cookie and broke it in half. "Okay, since I'll be downtown for that meeting, why don't I plan on picking you up at the airport then? We can do D and B's at the Dolphin for dinner."

"Mm." Jade made an agreeable noise, accepting her half of the cookie and taking a bite of it. "Listen. Stacy and Rhonda told me they overheard our two friends fighting in a bar after the trade show."

"They get pictures?"

"No." Jade rolled over and looked up at Tori, watching the expression shift subtly on her face. "Tor, this wasn't a joke."

"I don't give a poot." Tori said. "You know what I decided tonight? I decided they, and especially that bitch Shari had better the hell stay out of my way on this bid."

Jade blinked at her.

"I'm serious. I've had it with them. If they start up with me at that meeting on Wednesday, you'll be coming home to post my bail that night. I swear, Jade. I'm not going to put up with any shit from them anymore."

Jade gazed steadily at her. "Shari thinks she's got something on you that'll make you cave in to them."

Tori's eyebrows almost hit the popcorn ceiling. "On me?"

"Yeah."

"Me?" The brunette pointed a thumb at herself. "What in the hell do they think they can come up with on me that half the English speaking world hasn't seen for themselves on television or read in the Washington Post? That I'm gay? That I'm Republican? That I'm a budding hedonist? What?"

Jade shrugged. "I dunno, sweetheart. It didn't make a lick of sense to me when I heard it. I think she's just pissing lemonade."

"I'm going to make some lemonade and shove the pits right up her.." Tori exhaled. "Oo.. Jade, sending me to this meeting may not be a good idea." She said. "I could lose us the bid right up front if they tick me off."

"Then you do." Jade replied. "Don't sweat it, Tor. Just go, listen, and blow them off if they come near you." She took another cookie from the rack and split it, handing Tori her share.

Tori ate the cookie slowly. "Are you telling me to just ignore them? Leave them alone?"

Jade nodded. "Don't let them get to you."

The dark brows contracted. "Jade Giana, do you find it just a little ironic that you are saying that to me ? After what we just went through with them? Are you going to take your own advice on that too?"

A shrug.

"I tell you what – I'll blow them off if you will. You stop letting what that whore bitch did to you chew you up inside, and I'll treat them like they were old buddies. Deal?" Tori heard a sharper note in her voice than she'd really intended, and saw the flicTor in Jade's eyes just before her partner looked briefly away. "Because I hate her so much on your behalf, it's the only way I could deal with it, Jade." She added, in a gentler tone.

Jade looked back up. "I don't want you hating people on my behalf."

"Tough."

A sigh. "Got milk?"

Tori leaned over and gave her a chocolate tainted kiss instead. "Want to hear my poem?" She whispered. "Screw them. What ever's going to happen, will happen."

Jade eased her misgivings out of her mind, and set them aside for now. In one sense, Tori was right. Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. They would just have to deal with it all one step at a time when it did. "Poem me, and pass the milk. You're right. Screw em."

Tori's face creased into a happy grin, as she reached over to the table for her writing pad. "You got it, partner. You got it." She leaned over near Jade's ear. "Know what she must have found out about me?"

"What?"

Tori whispered something, and nearly ended up with cookies all over her chest as Jade convulsed with laughter, and she chuckled evilly right along with her.

Tori slung her sweat dampened towel around her neck, and inched her way out of the slim boxing gloves encasing her hands. She was still breathing a little hard from the end of her sparring lesson, and she shook her head with a tiny jerk to clear a few droplets of perspiration out of her eyes.

"Nice moves, Tor." Her sparring partner Rod gave her a light clout on the shoulder as he moved past. "Glad you're back."

'Thanks." Tori grinned at him. "That was fun."

"Eh." The woman at the locker next to hers gave her a wry look, examining a large purple bruise across the back of one hand. "Mostly fun. How are you, Tori? We missed you and the Taz last week."

The Taz. Tori wrinkled her nose up at the nickname her partner had picked up from their kickboxing classmates. "We were up in Orlando." She explained. "Now, Jade's up in New York for a few days. She was sorry she was going to miss tonight too. She likes it."

"Well, we like it when you're here to occupy her." The woman grinned at Tori. "Vacation?"

"Nah. A convention." Tori stripped off her other glove and tossed it into her gear locker. Her head protector followed it, and the leather belt that protected her mid-section. "Phew… it's hot in here today." She wiped her face off with a corner of her towel, then grabbed her clothing bag. "I'm going to go shower off. I feel grungier than an old dishrag."

"Hey." Rod poked his head around the door of her locker. "We're doing beer and wings across the street. You up for it?"

Tori only hesitated an instant before she nodded. "Sure. Cold beer sounds really good right now." She agreed. "See you over there? You too, Sal?"

"Right on." The woman responded readily. "Tom's got his new bike, and he's dying to show it off. But I'm with Tori – shower first."

"So you can sit in the bar and sweat?" Rod laughed. "You girls are so…so…"

"Girly?" Tori supplied, with a grin. "If that means we feel good and don't stink, thanks!" She flicked him with her towel and headed for the women's shower room at the gym with Sally at her heels. This class was full of new people, and she and Jade had made friends with quite a few of them.

Tori liked them. They were a mixture of professionals and working class, mostly laid back, with a diverse range of interests including diving and bikes, two of her own current fascinations. The women were into fitness, but not aerobics, and the guys were more relaxed and laid back than the martial artists that tended to populate the more traditional classes.

Cool group. They accepted her and Jade with amiable good nature even after their relationship had become evident and most of them held a healthy respect for Jade's fighting skills. "Ugh." Tori stripped out of her baggy pants and tshirt, then stepped under the shower with a feeling of relief.

The water was delightfully luke-warm, and she let it course over her for a minute before she squeezed out a handful of soap from the wall dispenser and scrubbed her skin with it. "So what did we miss last week?" She asked Sally, who had joined her in the next shower cubicle. The spaces were separated by half walls, to give a modicum of privacy.

"John just went over high kicks again." Sally responded. "He was in a bad mood. I think he lost big in that tourney he entered last weekend. You know how he gets."

"Ah." Tori lathered her hair quickly and rinsed it, feeling one hundred percent better already. Her muscles were a little sore, and she was a little tired from the session, but she'd completed the rounds without taking any hard blows, and was pretty satisfied with herself all in all. "Yeah, he's a little touchy about that, I know. Especially when his buddies show up here to watch the class."

"Uh huh." Sally said. "Rod thinks he picks the wimpiest student he has to spar with when they're here.. you notice he *never* picks Taz."

Tori chuckled wryly. "Well, Jade's not exactly a novice, and he knows it." She explained, rinsing off one last time and grabbing her towel. "She teaches a class at our other gym near work. We're just on break from that right now, and she wanted to learn something new."

"Yeah, me too." Sally admitted frankly, as she joined Tori in dressing. "I got really tired of spinning. You ever try that?"

"Nuh huh." Tori pulled on her shorts and buttoned them, then donned a clean t-shirt from her bag. "The idea of riding and riding and riding and getting nowhere just isn't my style." She ran her brush through her hair, settling her newly cut locks into place. "I mean… we run every morning. We could get a treadmill and do it in the house, in the nice air conditioning, but we don't."

Sally followed her out of the locker room and across the somewhat worn lobby of the boxing club they had their class in. "I kinda see what you mean… but sometimes it's a lot safer to run on the treadmill in here, then on the streets, y'know?"

No, that was true. Tori admitted, as they left the club and headed across the street to the small pub already leaking faint sounds of music into the humid air. It wasn't something she and Jade had to worry about, and sometimes she did tend to forget not everyone lived on a private island where that kind of crime just didn't exist.

Rod and three others from the class joined them as they approached, already having claimed a table outside under the ficus tree. The doors to the pub were wide open, as were the windows, since the place hadn't had air conditioning any time Tori had ever been by there.

Outside was cooler, even in the dead of summer. She sat down in one of the worn, wooden chairs and leaned back as the group settled in under the string of tacky colored globe lights hanging from the tree. The place smelled of the distinctive scent of vegetation all around, of fried food and spices, and Tori considered it just about the perfect neighborhood dive she'd ever seen. There was even a very worn dart board nailed to the ficus, and for a quarter you could get three cracked darts to throw at it.

"Hey, honey!" Their regular waitress scooted over on spotting them, stopping in front of Tori. "Usual?"

Tori nodded, and stretched her legs out as the rest of the group made their orders. It had just gotten dark, and there was just enough breeze to keep the night from being uncomfortable. The waitress had just left when the rumbling pop of a motorcycle engine interrupted the night, and the roar grew as it came closer. "Ah.. guess that's Tom."

"You guessed it." Rod agreed, hitching his knee up and slinging one long leg over the chair arm. He was tall and lanky, dark haired and relatively good looking in an understated kind of way. "Big ol Harley, and damn he wants everyone to know about it."

Tori snorted and shook her head.

The rider and bike arrived then, the noise precluding any further conversation until Tom turned the engine off and parked the big cycle, displaying it to various noises of appreciation. "Nice, huh?"

"Prettier than you are." Rod called out, with a chortle. "Sure you can handle something that nice?"

"Kiss my ass, butthead." Tom replied with a grin. "If you're nice, I might let you touch it." He half turned and glanced back at Tori. "Whatcha think, Tori? Nice, huh?" He indicated the bike, which was a monster in black and chrome with a custom painted gas tank full of incongruous tropical fish.

"Very." Tori agreed readily. "I like the soft tail. You didn't opt for a VRSC?"

Tom walked over and sat down next to her, clasping his hands together. "Oh.. I think I'm in love with you. A girl who speaks my language." He grinned at her. "You have one?"

"Not quite." Tori accepted her mug of ice cold draft beer and sipped it. "We were going for one. Went into the show room, and the guy there told Jade she'd have to buy what he was willing to sell her." She licked her lips and sighed. "One 'kiss my ass' later, we headed over to the Honda dealership and the rest is history. I like my Shadow, though. It's nice."

The group laughed. Tom groaned, and slapped his head. "Tori… Tori… Tori.. how could you?" He moaned. "Why didn't you try a different dealership? I got mine in Daytona during bike week… it was like a religious experience."

Tori took a lazy swallow of her amber colored beer and shrugged one shoulder. "We use it down by the cabin in the keys. If we kept a Harley in the shed, we'd spend half our time writing police reports on it. So, it worked out for us. Maybe my next one'll be a hog."

Tom waggled his eyebrows at her. "Wanna go for a ride after we eat?"

"Sure." Tori agreed. "As long as you don't have chili again."

The gang laughed again, and Rod threw a corn chip at his buddy. "She gotcha."

"Damn it, I like chili!" Tom whined. "Okay, here, at least get a picture of me with a good looking girl on my bike. I gotta have something to show the guys." He gave Tori a pleading look. "You mind?"

With a chuckle, Tori set her beer down and got up, following Tom over to the slick machine and admiring it's lines as she hopped up and gingerly settled herself on the back part of the seat. "Hm."

Tom got on in front of her, and did a muscle dude pose, flexing his bicep for Tori's admiration. Obligingly, she leaned against him and pointed at the muscle, raising her eyebrows for the camera. "Psst." She whispered. "I think Jade's are sexier."

Tom gave her a look over his shoulder. He was blond and football player style buff, and had a crew cut that was almost fifties in it's rigor. "Gee, thanks Tor." He muttered. "You really know how to make a guy feel great."

Tori chuckled, and slid off the bike now that the flashes had stopped. She headed for the table, sidestepping the outstretched feet and reclaiming her chair with a sigh.

"Okay, okay." Tom finally joined them, after he carefully made sure his new bike wasn't going to fall over onto the sidewalk. "This rounds' on me, since I don't have to start paying on this thing for three months."

Whistles all round greeted his speech.

Tori relaxed, looking forward to her cheeseburger with a sense of decadent pleasure. She felt sort of bad for Jade stuck in her hotel up in New York, but she was glad to get the chance to decompress before her scheduled meeting with Quest the next day.

She let her eyes wander as the group chattered about Tom's new bike, and found her gaze abruptly arrested by the sight of an unwelcome but familiar face. At the phone booth right in front of the dive, Shari was standing ostensibly making a call. "Oh… what are the odds of this being a coincidence?" She tensed, waiting for the confrontation she was sure would happen, but Shari finished her call, and turned and walked away without a backward glance.

"Huh." Tori exhaled. "Hm. Maybe it was."

"Here's to my bike!" Tom said, raising his glass and extending it. "And to a bunch of good buddies!" He clinked his mug to theirs. "Just sorry Taz isn't here to see it."

Tori tilted her mug towards him. "I'll drink to that sentiment. Me too."

Me too, she repeated silently, watching the now empty sidewalk with pensive eyes.

Jade trudged into her hotel room, tossing her jacket over the nearby chair and kicking out of her formal shoes even before she had the door properly closed. "Know what?" She addressed the empty room. "I'm about throw the whole damn company to the wolves."

She was tired, and aggravated, and here she was a near midnight after a very long, stressful day. "Stupid sons of bitches." She cursed, giving her room a glare. "I come all the way out here and the entire pack of jackasses don't have the start of their act together. Pain my ass, and a waste of my time."

Their client's team had just fallen apart trying to answer her questions. Everything she asked was either deferred to their VP Ops who was out of town, or met with an anxious, wide eyed stare of incomprehension.

Their CIO had been pretty much mortified, and offered to take Jade out to dinner to make up for the chaos. He'd turned out to be a vegetarian.

Jade had forced him into a steakhouse, sending a brief mental apology to her mother as she ordered hers rare and spent a desultory couple of hours making polite conversation about nothing significant and alost missed her hormone dosage because of all of this. After coming out of the bathroom pissed off that she had to stick herself, and the hormones weren't helping, the topper of it was a pounding ache in her head slowly grew into what she suspected was the beginning of a migraine.

Aggravated wasn't the word for what she was. Disgusted, hurting, sick to her stomach, and just hellfire damned annoyed didn't even come close either.

With a sigh, she started unbuttoning the sleeves on her shirt, slowing as she approached the small table in the reasonably elegant room and spotted a basket on top of it. She didn't remember it being there earlier when she'd thrown her luggage into the room before heading for the client, but then the bottle of champagne resting with distinguished chilliness nearby hadn't been either. "Hm. What have we here?"

She glanced at the tag on the champagne. "Forget it, Stewie. You'll be lucky if I leave you an extra set of tin cans tomorrow." Her lip curled slightly at the sight of her erstwhile dining companion's name. "You can keep your damn fake French bubbly."

She tossed the card on to the table and watched it slide off the polished surface and waft towards the carpet with a supremely disinterested shrug.

Now, the basket. Gift from the management? Jade circled the table and cautiously investigated the unexpected offering. The basket was a nice, wicTor one, with a top. She opened the top and peered inside, a smile appearing on her face when the first thing she saw was a packet of good hot chocolate. "So." She sat down and upturned the basket, spilling out it's contents.

Brownies. Cookies. The hot chocolate. Truffles. Jade poked her finger among them and stopped at the last item – a frilly little gauze bag filled with Hersey's kisses. She picked it up and cupped it in her hand, gazing at the silver wrapped treats with eyes that suddenly, unexpectedly, stung.

There was a card attached to the wicTor. Jade opened it, already knowing what she'd find inside Hope you're looking at this as you finish up business early and are watching the sun set over Manhattan. But I bet you ain't. Love, Tori

"Bet you're right." Jade answered, in a husky voice. "Wish to hell you were in that basket."

The quiet of the room settled around her as she sat there, her head resting on one hand and a bag of kisses cradled in the other. Finally she sighed and straightened up, opening the net and retrieving one of the candies. "C'mon, Jade. Get a grip. She can use a vacation from you with all this insecurity crap you've been pulling the last week." With a morose look, she popped a kiss into her mouth and chewed it.

Here, alone in her hotel room, she could just lean back and be as depressed as she wanted to.

Her eyes shifted. But it was hard to do that, when she was practically up to her earlobes in thoughtful presents from her beloved partner whose warm smile seemed to reflect off the packaging scattered over the table in front of her.

Even if it was midnight, and she had a migraine. Jade pulled the other chair over and put her feet up on it, leaning back as she consumed more of the kisses. Lacking milk, she reached over and snagged the bottle of champagne, untwisting it's top and popping it's cork in a smooth motion. She poured herself a glass and took a sip, letting her head rest against the back of the chair as she thought about Tori.

Slowly, the tension eased from her shoulders. She knew Tori was trying her hardest to be supportive, she only had to unfold the piece of paper in her wallet and reread yesterday's poem to see that. Chocolate chip cookies, her stuff all taken care of.. this… Jade exhaled, acknowledging the deep emotion in her guts the thought triggered in her.

Tori cared so much about her. It was almost like she could feel her partner's presence, and if she closed her eyes, she could almost sense a pair of ghostly hands on her shoulders and the faint brush of Tori's lips on the top of her head.

Tears came again, and Jade rested her head on her hand, letting her fingers slide forward to cover her eyes. "God damn it." She cursed at herself softly. "Would you fucking snap out of this already?"

It was ludicrous. It was frustrating. Jade wanted to just slap herself for feeling the way she did, for what she considered such a stupid reason.

For no reason, really. So what if she'd had to tangle with Shari? She'd gotten exactly what she wanted from the trade show, and they'd won, damn it! So what the hell was wrong with her?

I need to kick myself in the ass.

Disgusted, she shoved herself to her feet and went to her window, brushing aside the curtains to lean against the glass and stare out at the city. Behind the thick glass, the sounds were muted, and the garish lights and looming buildings seemed alien beyond their usual to her.

She'd never liked New York. The city had always seemed big, impersonal, nasty and dirty to her, without any of the exciting energy and pulse she'd heard its residents boast of. The streets were narrow, the buildings were overbearing and in some places dirty, and in the heat of the summer, the place stank to high heaven.

Exciting? Jade had driven past the financial district earlier, as the cabby proudly pointed out Wall Street to her. Peering down the rows of buildings, it had appeared nothing more than a huge, impersonal canyon about as picturesque as a bunch of shoeboxes set on end.

The change of subject was helping. Jade took several deep breaths, reassured by the order that seemed to be returning to her thoughts.

She spotted a man walking a dog across the street, and focused on that. He was a street person, she realized, wearing ragged clothing and carrying probably all his possessions on his back. Along side him a mixed breed sheperd dog trotted, his tail wagging proudly. He had a Torchief around his neck that probably cost as much as he owner's shirt, and as Jade watched them move past and studied the man's lifted head and jaunty step, she decided she deserved nothing but a first class butt kicking rather than chocolate baskets and pretty poems.

"Okay, JaeJae." She addressed herself, moving back from the window and starting again to unbutton her sleeves. "That's enough. You're over it. Or else."

She slid her shirt off and tossed it over the chair with her jacket, sliding out of her skirt as she walked over to where her suitcase was resting, it's top neatly opened. She removed a pair of shorts and a tshirt from it, changing into them and breathing in the scent of home as the soft folds settled over her.

"That's better." She took her sundry kit from the overnight bag and went into the bathroom, setting it onto the sink and removing her toothbrush and paste from it. She glanced at the paste and half chuckled, recognizing the flavor. "Grape." She held the paste up. "Thanks, Tor."

Her headache was easing a little, and to further that end, she swallowed a few Advil after she finished brushing her teeth.

Wandering back into the main room she sat down on the bed, flipping the television on more to provide some background noise than anything else. She found CNN and left it going, then she stretched out along the bed, laying down flat and watching the picture sideways.

Some of the CNN anchors, she'd discovered, looked better that way, and she wasn't tempted to try and read the scrolling marquee across the bottom of the screen. The news, however, always seemed to be the same thing. Donald Trump said one asinine thing or another, political wrangling in the US. Will Jo Biden be the nominee? When is the DNC? Never changed.

Jade checked her watch, hesitantly wondering if it was too early to call home. The thought was only barely articulated when her cell phone, resting on the nightstand, went off with a low, rumbling buzz.

She rolled over a few times to get to the head of the bed, and grabbed the phone, glancing at the caller id as she tapped it open. "Hi."

"Hey, sweetie."

Jade realized as she listened that there was something about Tori's voice that did something to her when she heard it. It was a viscereal reaction – she felt her body relax onto the bed, and the tension across her shoulders eased almost like magic. "Ahhh… Victoria. Now that's a sound for sore ears."

Tori laughed. "Did I wake you up?" She said. "I'm sorry if I did… I just got home and I just wanted to make sure you got there okay and everything was going fine."

Jade's eyebrows lifted. "You just got home?" She queried.

"Yeah." Tori sounded a trifle abashed. "We went to the pub after class and talked trash for a few hours. Tom got his new bike." She cleared her throat. "And.. I.. um… did something I think you're going to kill me for."

Jade blinked, her eyes searching the arched ceiling. "You did?"

"Yeeahhh… but I'd rather tell you about it in person."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Jade's brow furrowed. Tori didn't sound really worried about it, but… "You know I hate surprises."

A soft, wry chuckle. "Honey, I know that. But humor me. Please?"

The tone reassured her. "Okay." Jade sighed. "It's been a bitch of a day. I'm torked." She complained. "I hate New York."

"Wish I was there." Tori admitted. "Rather than going to that damn meeting tomorrow. At least I have picking you up to look forward to."

It made her smile, for a number of reasons. "Hey. Thanks for the basket." She said. "It was nice to come in to after a lousy night."

"Aww." Tori crooned softly. "Glad to hear that. How's the sizing going? Did you straighten out what they need?"

Jade sighed. "No. They weren't ready for me today. I'm going to have to really push tomorrow to get out of here on time. Maybe I should just take the morning flight out and forget about it.

"Jade."

"Yeah, I know."

"Listen, just do what you can, and get on the plane. It'll work out." Tori said. "At least they put you up in a nice place."

Jade glanced around. "Yeah." She shrugged. "It's okay, but it's lacking an amenity."

"Yeah? What's that?"

"You."

A low chuckle came through the phone. "See you tomorrow night, sweetheart. Try to take it easy, huh?"

"You too." Jade smiled. "Night. Love you."

"Love you too. G'night."

Jade folded the phone shut and put it on her chest. Now what, she wondered, could Tori have done?

That Jade would kill her for?

Jade sighed.

It was going to be a long twenty four hours.