"h.e.l.lo, Kris." He finally let go of the captain's hand and shook Kris' a little more sedately.

Granny joined them then and was introduced. They all sat down to a few seconds of that initial awkward silence, each of them waiting on one of the others to break it. Lisa came to the rescue. "So, tell us how you know Raven."

"Oh, it was..." Andy thought back. "Six years ago, I was a rookie on the force. I'm a cop." He clarified in case Lisa hadn't mentioned it. "I was one of several a.s.signed to work with an outside group that had been hired to flush out a bunch of neo-n.a.z.is that were operating in the mountains east of here. It was a joint effort with other law enforcement departments in the state and the FBI. We hadn't been able to catch them in any criminal act and none of the witnesses had been willing to speak out against them, so we couldn't get any warrants for their arrest. So the bra.s.s decided to do something that had never been done before and hired outside help that didn't necessarily have to follow the same procedures we do."

Lisa interrupted. "Wait, why would the CIA have to be hired?"

Andy looked to Raven, fearful that he may have said something he shouldn't have. Raven remembered the mission not long after he had started his story and knew he was somewhat aware of The Division and their activities. "I was about to let you in on a little secret right before Andy arrived." She went on to briefly explain things to her sister.

"Oh." Lisa's forehead wrinkled in thought, then she smiled. "So you're a female James Bond?"

Unfortunately Kris had just brought her gla.s.s to her mouth and taken a swallow. The liquid exited a lot quicker than it entered as she started coughing. Raven rubbed her back and handed her a napkin. "Uh...kinda, maybe. But we don't get all the perks like the exploding fountain pen or the cars with a missile launcher in the tailpipe." She chuckled at her sister.

Lisa pouted. "You're making fun of me. I can't help I'm a slave to spy and action movies." Lisa couldn't help but laugh at herself along with the others.

"You all right?" Granny asked Kris when she caught her breath.

"Yeah. At least it was water." She dabbed at the liquid that landed in her lap and on the couch. "And that pout looks very familiar." She pointed her finger at Raven. "I've seen it on this one here, many times." Her statement caused a few chuckles at her partner's expense.

"Sorry, Kris." Lisa said sincerely.

"It's okay. That just caught me by surprise. I've never thought of your sister quite like that before." She looked at her partner and threatened. "You just make sure that those gadgets aren't the only 007 perks you don't get."

Andy looked puzzled then grinned knowingly. "Oh, I get it, you mean the s.e.x." Lisa blushed.

"Hey, Kris." Granny got the blondes attention. "She turns almost as red as you do."

"Can we get back to the story?" Lisa tried to divert attention away from her embarra.s.sment.

Andy picked up where he left off after Raven a.s.sured him that she was not a storyteller. "At first I took my cues from some of the veteran officers and they basically resented the fact that an outside group was being brought in to do our jobs." He shook his head. "I changed my opinion pretty darn quick. They came in and in two days, had pinpointed the location of the compound, which was something the FBI and Sheriffs Department hadn't been able to do in three months. And about 12 hours later, they had the camp surrounded. I was lucky enough to be a.s.signed to one of the teams that went in with them. They got in the compound, disarmed the guards and secured the buildings all without a shot being fired. They rounded up all the members of this vigilante group and sat them down on the floor in one of the larger rooms waiting on the trucks to transport them out. The entire time we were waiting, the leader of this group, I forget what they called themselves, mouthed off. He kept yelling that what we did was illegal and it wouldn't hold up in court and that their rights were being violated. Nothing anyone said, would make him shut up and by then everyone was sick of listening to him, one of us in particular." He looked at Raven and chuckled. "The Captain here, grabbed him by his collar and belt, stood him up and shoved his head through a door. That most definitely shut him up; he was out cold. Then she turned around to the rest of them with a glare that could freeze boiling water and I'll always remember what she said." He paused to get a drink for his dry throat.

Kris, Granny and Lisa were sitting on the edge of their seats leaning forward. "What?" Asked a chorus of three impatient voices.

"First off I should explain to you, that in the 72 hours that I had been around her," he pointed to the amused woman, "she hadn't uttered one word, zilch. There were a few of us that had wondered if she was mute." He chuckled. "Anyway, she was glaring and they were beginning to squirm. Then in a commanding voice she informed them, 'Hate doesn't have any rights or laws that protect it. The little girl you beat to death and the old man you ran down just because their skin was a different color than yours, they had rights. The group of teenagers that you decided to use for target practice because they were gay, they had rights.' Then she walked over to two of the younger members and pulled her gun, moving back and forth between the two and said, 'One of them has hair the other has a shaved head. Which one dies because he's different?' She asked the rest of them. No one answered and no one would look any of us in the eye. We all just stood there in silence until someone started clapping, then another joined in, until we all were applauding, even the ones that still resented the outsiders."

"I'm gonna have to get you a white hat and horse like all the other heroes." Kris said and laid her head on Raven's shoulder.

"What happen then? Were they convicted?" Granny asked.

"Yes they were and as far as I know all are still behind bars. And before you ask, I don't know how they got around all the legal rigmarole, I didn't ask. They went to jail and that's all that counts." Andy stated.

Conversation continued until the midnight hour approached. "Hey everybody, it's almost twelve." Lisa announced as she looked at her watch.

"I've got ginger-ale if anyone is interested in toasting the New Year." Granny put her hands on her knees and started to push herself into a standing position.

"Sit." Lisa jumped up. "We'll get it. Come on Andy."

"The champagne gla.s.ses are on the counter." Granny told them as they headed for the kitchen.

"Raven?" Kris leaned over and brushed dark bangs back. "Baby, wake up."

"Huh?" Blue eyes opened and took a few seconds to focus on green. "I'm awake." She groaned as she stiffly sat up.

"Are you hurting? Do you need something for the pain?" Kris asked worriedly. "Maybe we should skip the toast and just go to bed."

"No, I'm okay. My neck is stiff, that's all." She explained as she rubbed her neck and twisted her head trying to work the soreness out.

"Here, lean forward and let me do that." Kris sat on the back of the sofa behind Raven and ma.s.saged her neck and shoulders.

"G.o.ds that feels good." Raven groaned. "But you better stop or you'll put me back to sleep." She patted the cotton-covered knee beside her. "Thanks, love."

Kris slid off the back of the sofa and returned to her place beside her partner as Lisa and Andy handed out the fluted gla.s.ses. Granny opened the wooden doors in the built-in bookcases on the far wall that concealed the television and switched it to the local station that was showing the celebration at the s.p.a.ce Needle.

They all started counting down with the clock on the screen. As the TV crowd cheered, they touched their gla.s.ses together and sipped their ginger ale to complete their toast. Lisa and Andy's voice joined with that of Granny's in singing 'Auld Lang Syne'. Kris joined in, a little less off key than the other three.

"Come on, sis." Lisa stopped singing and looked at Raven sitting quietly. "Help us out." She grinned. "You know your voice can put the rest of us to shame. Although Kris isn't doing too bad."

"You sing?" Kris looked at her partner curiously.

Raven's eyes lost focus, remembering the past. "No." She blinked and took a deep breath. "Not anymore." She looked down, concentrating on her gla.s.s, to avoid the searching eyes that she knew were staring at her.

Kris looked at the sad expression on Lisa's face and knew it had to do with an unpleasant memory from the past. She turned her attention back to her uncomfortable lover. "You're just being nice and don't want to embarra.s.s the rest of us."

Raven smiled gratefully, she knew Kris was trying to draw the attention away from her obvious distress. She also knew she needed to explain things later.

Goodnights were exchanged after it was decided that it would be safer if Lisa and Andy stayed the night instead of braving the long drive back. Andy hadn't had anything stronger than ginger ale but even with the strict enforcement of the drunk driving laws, some fools still insisted on trying to drive themselves.

After a slightly embarra.s.sing moment, on the part of the new couple when Kris asked them if they needed one room or two, Andy spoke up stating that two rooms would be required, 'for now' he had finished with a wink at his still blushing date.

Raven was grateful for that decision. She knew she didn't have any right to keep them apart and wouldn't have if they had wanted to be together but she still thought of Lisa as her little sister. And it would have felt strange to think of them making love in the room across the hall. She knew in time she would come to think of Lisa as the adult she was, but right now she liked the thought of playing the role of the big sister again.

Kris joined Raven in their bedroom after making sure Granny got safely to her house. "You want to talk about it?" She had debated on her way up the stairs about letting it go for now since Raven was obviously exhausted. But she was sure her sometimes stubborn partner would try to play the importance down if she didn't get it out in the open when her feelings were hitting her full force.

The tall woman finished changing into a long nightshirt, she had to forgo the boxers since the elastic hit one of her still sore incisions, and sat down on the edge of the bed.

Kris watched and waited. She sat down beside the silent woman and ran her hand up and down Raven's back. "I know you hate talking about your past but I really think you should get it out in the open." She waited for several more silent minutes. "It's okay if you'd rather not talk about it, I understand."

"No, it's not that. I was just remembering the last time I sang for Lisa." She told Kris the story of how her mother reacted to catching her singing for her sister. "She had forbid me from singing before, but I thought it would be okay since it always helped Lisa go back to sleep. Seems that wasn't the case. From then on Lisa was too scared to ask me to sing to her and I think that was the start of my telling myself I was never going to be good enough, at least where my mother was concerned."

Kris was fuming, but held her anger in check, knowing it wasn't what her partner needed at the moment. She slid off the bed and knelt in front of Raven, placing her hands on the older woman's knees. "Baby, don't let her take something else away from you. If you like to sing, then sing." For a second she saw the hurt little girl in Raven's eyes and a little of her anger got away from her. "In fact, why don't you make a tape of you singing and I'll go to her restaurant with a tape deck and play it over and over for her."

Raven's grat.i.tude shown in her eyes. "You don't even know if I can carry a tune or not. You might regret getting me started."

Kris grinned at the playfulness in her partner's voice, thankful that she hadn't let her anger get away from her. "Well, if you really stink at it, I'll make sure to take earplugs with me."

"And here I was thinking you loved me no matter what." She tried to pout but ended up laughing instead.

They turned out the light and crawled into bed. "Goodnight, Taz, love you."

"I love you, too." Raven turned on her side to face her partner. "Uh, Kris?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you hold me tonight?" Came the insecure voice.

Kris' anger at Raven's mother almost got the better of her again. Instead she opened her arms. "I'll hold you for the rest of our lives if you want me to." She held on tightly and kissed the top of the dark head resting on her chest.

Chapter Twenty-Two:.

The next day after breakfast and after Lisa and Andy had left, Raven contacted John and filled him in on Lisa's plan.

"What did he say?" Kris asked as she poured them another cup of coffee.

"It's possible, it's illegal and he begged me to let him help." Raven grinned. "Seems his mother is after him to become more involved in the wedding preparations and he wants something to occupy his time." She explained.

"Has he told her that he asked you to stand up for him?" Kris rolled her eyes when Raven shook her head. "What's he going to do? Wait until she sees you standing beside him at the altar?"

"What are you thinking about?" Raven asked suspiciously at the dreamy expression on Kris' face.

Kris leaned forward, placed her elbows on the table and propped her chin in her hands. "I can't wait to see you in a tux. You know, everybody says the bridesmaid should never look better than the bride, I think they better start worrying about the 'best man', besting the groom." She sighed, deeply. "Do you think we will be able to dance together? I wouldn't want to upset their families."

Raven choked on her coffee. "Dance?" She had been pondering an idea since she and Kris talked about her singing last night. And had even thought about how to ask John and Sharon if she might be able to sing a song at their reception for them and for Kris, but she had totally forgotten about dancing that would be going on. "I...ah, I don't know how." She admitted sheepishly.

"It's okay if we don't dance." She a.s.sured her. "But I could teach you if you wanted me to."

Raven wiggled her eyebrows. "That could be fun. You in my arms, soft music, our bodies moving together. Yep, that's a definite possibility."

Kris cleared her throat and decided that she had better get her mind on something else or they would be doing a lot more than dancing and she didn't think Raven's still healing body was up to that kind of activity yet. "So, you think Lisa's plan has a chance of working?"

Raven shrugged her shoulders and accepted the change of direction. "I hope it does for her sake anyway."

"What about for your sake? Don't you want it to work?" Kris reached for the coffeepot and refilled their mugs.

"Yes and no." Raven paused to gather her thoughts. "No because it's easier not to have to deal with my mother's disapproval of me and I really don't want to get my hopes up that she'll suddenly change her opinion. I also know that if she did change her mind that it wouldn't last long, she'll never accept me being gay because of her strict religious beliefs."

"Why yes?" Kris' anger was starting all over again at the defeated tone in her lover's voice.

Raven's grin was truly evil. "I would love to see her have to deal with her perfect little image of her perfect little boy shot down in flames." She sighed. "Of course she would probably just make up some reason Philip did what he did that would excuse him from blame."

"You know." Kris took a few deep breaths trying to control her temper. "I normally don't pre-judge people, but I really hate this b.i.t.c.h."

The statement from her partner was said with so much exasperation and honesty that Raven couldn't stop the look of total devotion and love that crossed her face. Gone was the insecurity and the self-loathing that always seemed to lurk just below the surface.

"What's that look for, Taz?" Kris moved her chair closer to Raven and laced their fingers together.

"I never told anybody any of this before. I was always afraid that if I did they would agree with her, that I really was as worthless as she had said all along. Then when I got older, I developed an 'I don't care' att.i.tude in regards to just about everything. I was determined that nothing anybody said or did would ever affect me again." Raven brought their intertwined hands to her lips and kissed the back of Kris'.

"What made you decide to change?" Kris laid her head down on Raven's shoulder and sighed at the contentment she felt.

"You mainly. Although I think Granny and John started the change. They were always there for me, not asking questions or expecting anything in return for their friendship. But you completed the change in me by completing me and by giving me something that I can't live without."

Kris raised her head and looked into sincere blue eyes. "What?"

Raven smiled. "Your love, your trust, your understanding. You gave me, you." She leaned over and kissed her startled companion.

The next day when Lisa got off work, John picked her up and headed for Raven and Kris' house. He had brought all the equipment they would need to set up their 'haunting' at Philip's condo and office. Now all they had to do was get in, set it up and get out without being seen.

After several hours of planning, they had agreed that Lisa would 'borrow' Philip's keys and pa.s.s them to John, who would quickly cut copies, get them back to Lisa who would take them back to Philip with the excuse of taking them by mistake.

Then they would pick a time that Philip was at his office to set up the equipment in his condo and vice versa. The only thing left to decide was who they were going to get to play the voice of Derek.

"I don't know anybody that would pa.s.s for an eight year old. And even more important, I don't want to mix a kid up in something that's illegal." Raven sighed in frustration.

"What's illegal?" Granny asked. She had entered in time to hear the last part of the statement.

They all looked at each other. Raven shrugged and explained, she knew their friend wouldn't give them away.

"I use to do impressions at the nurses talent shows when they needed more people to partic.i.p.ate. I could probably do the voice and I would really like to help."

The others look at each other again. Kris grinned. "Well, that was easy."

"Hey, why don't we order pizza? My treat." Lisa suggested. She wasn't ready to leave the relaxed friendly atmosphere and return to her empty apartment and the probable blinking light on her answering machine. She had been totally ignoring her mother lately and she knew she would have to deal with it sooner or later and she wanted it to be later.

Lisa did have a message on her machine when she returned home. Only it was from her brother, not her mother as expected.

'Lisa, it's Philip. I was wondering if you could come by the office tomorrow? I need to talk to you about something. Give the office a call tomorrow to set up a time.' The message ended abruptly.

Lisa stared at the machine, curious as to what her brother wanted. It briefly crossed her mind that maybe her earlier attempt at coercing him into admitting his lie had worked, but she didn't get her hopes up. She plopped down on the sofa and picked up the phone to dial her sister's number. 'Well, whatever he wants, this will be the perfect attempt to get his keys copied.' She thought as she heard the first ring.

Monday morning during her break Lisa called Philip's office, letting him know that she would be by after work. Late afternoon found her sitting in a visitor's chair across from her brother, his desk separating them. She waited for him to finish his phone call and explain the summons. A nervously bouncing leg the only thing giving away her anxiousness.

He finally ended the call. "How was work?" He tossed his gla.s.ses on his desk that had been resting on top of his head.

"You summoned me down here to ask about work?" She looked at him suspiciously. "You could have asked me that over the phone."

"No, I was trying to make conversation." He explained. "Can't I be curious about how your day was?"