Raven saw Kris' hand moving towards hers. Before contact was made, she stuck her hands in her pants pockets and turned towards the two men at the monitors. "Who's available to escort Ms. Whitfield shopping?" To Raven, the gesture meant a double standard. 'It's okay if my friends and a.s.sociates know about us; she probably thinks she's an improvement for me. But I guess I'm a step down to a lower cla.s.s, an embarra.s.sment to her if her friends found out.'

Kris looked at Raven quizzically. She had no idea what her reluctance over not telling Gwen, had done to her friend. "I thought maybe you could take us." She addressed the Captain's back.

"I have other things to do." She answered. 'I just have to last until six tonight, then John takes over. Then a couple of hours tomorrow morning when we turn everything over and then I can get out of here for good.'

Franks answered his Captain's inquiry. "Hardly and myself."

"You're it." The Captain ordered. This time she left a very confused young lady behind as she hurriedly left the room.

"Uh, ma'am?" Franks addressed Kris. "Anytime you're ready."

'She's got some explaining to do when I get back.' Kris pulled her eyes away from the door Raven had disappeared through. "Let's go." She told the man waiting by her side.

It was after six when the shoppers returned and Kris was told that the Captain had already left. Not deterred in the least, she went in search of John and found him in the kitchen talking with Issy. Kris, still unaware of her roll in Raven's withdrawal, questioned the Lieutenant on his Captain's behavior. Yes, he had noticed that something was wrong. No, she hadn't said what it was and no, he didn't ask.

"I have found, over the years, when she's in that kind of mood it's definitely better not to ask." He explained. "The only thing she did say that I found puzzling was, and I quote, 'Don't call me unless the house is being invaded or someone disappears, if anything else happens, I don't care and I don't want to know', then she left. Did you two have a fight or something?" He asked as he stuffed the rest of Issy's apple pie in his mouth.

"No." She replayed the day in her head. "We barely spent any time at all together."

"Nothing you can do tonight. I suggest you talk to her tomorrow. She'll be here to turn things over to the 'SS'." He rinsed his plate and put it in the sink. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure whatever is bothering her has nothing to do with you." He rea.s.sured Kris. "d.a.m.n, I hope she's not still having problems from the last mission." John mumbled, but it was loud enough for Kris to hear.

"What problems?"

John wanted to kick himself. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. "She was captured and...hurt during her last mission. It was my fault really but she'd tell you it wasn't." He held up his hands to stop the questions he knew were coming. "It's not my place to say anymore. You'll need to ask her about it, but I'm not sure she'll be willing to talk about it."

John left a worried young woman and headed up to the control room to start his watch, while Kris headed for the dining room and dinner.

Raven was walking along the river, parallel to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. She wondered at her own sanity when she looked up and noticed the building directly across from her. The Kennedy Center, which is where the Washington Opera preformed, which is where Kris will be tomorrow night. "Kris." She mumbled under her breath. She had tried to stay angry with the young woman, but couldn't. The feeling of desolation settled on her shoulders like a wet wool blanket on a hot summer's day, heavy and suffocating. She turned and faced the water, sitting down on a wooden bench and propping her bluejean-covered leg on a concrete bearer. 'She said she didn't want to be separated from me.' She thought back to their conversation on the plane. 'I guess it was just a spur of the moment thing, an experiment. Maybe she just changed her mind before we went too far.' She rested her head along the back of the bench and stared up at the few visible stars that twinkled above her on this overcast night. 'But I've never trusted someone so quickly or completely before.' She wondered if all her instincts had left her to migrate south for the winter. 'Wouldn't blame them too much, it's cold out here.' Raven rubbed her hands together briskly and blew on them. She had left her coat and gloves in the car, when she had parked and started her walk. She hadn't been thinking about anything except that she shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car since she hadn't even remembered driving back towards the city so she had stopped in the first parking lot she found. She turned and started back towards the warmth of the car not paying any attention to her surrounding and didn't notice the two men sticking to the shadows and following her.

Chapter Nine:.

Kris dragged her body from bed and dressed. She hadn't slept well last night, tossing and turning thinking of Raven and what could possibly be bothering her friend. She descended the stairs to the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table with her sister.

"Good morning." Viv cheerfully intoned until she saw the bedraggled appearance of her sibling. "You look like death warmed over. What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure. Have you seen Raven?" With her sister's negative response, she looked to Issy with a questioning tilt of her head.

"No child I hasn't seen her since yesterday." Issy dried her hands on the dishtowel she had thrown across her shoulder. "Is you two havin' problems?"

"You're the second person that's asked me that." She replied as the cook joined the two sisters at the table. "I don't think so but I'm beginning to wonder." She started filling them in on the day before but was interrupted by Viv.

"Wait, why are you going anywhere with Parker? I thought you didn't want anything else to do with him?"

"I don't, but I didn't want to explain the situation to Gwen." She stared down at the table. 'Let it go, Viv, please.' She silently pleaded with her sister.

"What situation?" Vivian asked innocently. She was going to make Kris come clean and admit her feelings for the Captain however strong they may be.

"It's okay, child, tell us." Issy softly encouraged as she patted the young woman's hand.

Kris looked up at the old woman that been her friend since she could remember and saw understanding in her eyes. She took strength from those eyes and decided to confess her feelings for the Captain. "I didn't want to answer questions about why I wasn't marrying Parker. You both know Gwen; she wouldn't let it rest until she had me admitting my deepest, darkest desires." Kris chuckled to herself at her use of adverbs. "I'm, ah...I'm in love with Raven." There, she'd admitted it, out loud, now if she could just admit it to Raven. She cringed and waited for their laughter or their reluctance to be around her, but they hadn't laughed at her or run away. "It...it doesn't bother you?" She looked from Issy to Viv.

"Good heavens no. Why would you think that?" Issy looked genuinely perplexed.

"Because most people don't think that, I mean, well, most people believe it's wrong." She stumbled around her words, trying to explain what had made her apprehensive.

Viv took her sister's hand in hers. "I am a little surprised that it's this serious, but I don't think it's wrong for two people to love each other. And besides, I was wondering what it would take before you blew off Mr. Numb Nuts."

"Miss Vivian, I'm gonna wash yo' mouth out with soap." She gentled her expression and turned to Kris. "Child." Issy explained. "We's not most people, we are your friends and family and we care about you. So, what makes you happy, makes us happy." Issy winked at her. "Now, go find your Captain and clear up whatever's wrong."

Kris jumped up and ran out only to run back into the room and hug both women. "Thank you." She smiled and charged out the door again. She found John in the command center packing some of their gear.

"Morning, Kris." He continued to coil the cable from a disconnected monitor. "How you doing?"

"Okay. Where's Raven?" She leaned against the wall close to the case he was packing the cable into. "I thought she was supposed to be here this morning."

"Oh, there's been a slight change of plans." He looked around on the floor. " Where did that, ah, there it is." He bent down and picked up the clamp he had dropped. "The agent in charge won't be here until this afternoon, so she called in to let me know that she was meeting with him at his office downtown."

"d.a.m.n." Kris mumbled an almost never used curse. "I need to see her, John, I have to find out what's wrong." She was almost panicking. 'Was she just going to leave without seeing me? What's going on with her? Maybe she changed her mind about us. No, she said I wouldn't be able to get rid of her and I know she couldn't just change her mind.'

John interrupted her thoughts. "Come back to the hotel with me and wait for her there."

"I have a previous engagement tonight."

"Can't get out of it?" He was beginning to think that he had been wrong last night and maybe he should have questioned his friend and not just let her storm off.

"I could, but I'd like to spend some time with Gwen, an old friend." She explained. 'I don't know when I'll get the chance to see her again if I leave with Raven. If, where did that uncertainty come from? I was sure of our life together when I woke up this morning.'

"Come by tonight then, afterwards." John interrupted her doubts. "Here, I'll write down the hotel and her room number for you." He pulled a piece of paper and pen from his jacket.

"Thanks, John. I should be done around 11:00 or so." She folded the paper and put it in her pocket and left him to his packing.

Raven exited the tall grey office building and slipped her sungla.s.ses down from their resting place on top of her head, to cover her eyes. The sun had decided to make an appearance in direct contrast to her sullen, gloomy and dejected mood. She had dragged the briefing out as long as possible not because she liked being cooped-up in a room full of stuff-shirt, over-paid chair warmers, the Captain hated upper management. But she knew she would have to make an appearance back at the house and the chance of running into Kris was high. 'Maybe she'll have started getting ready for tonight.' Raven sighed deeply and headed for her rental car.

The Captain convinced herself, last night after much floor pacing, that her instincts hadn't left her after all and she hadn't miss-judged the girl. Kris had simply changed her mind and wasn't sure how to tell her. About the time the sun was rising, Raven decided that she would make it as easy on Kris as she could and just avoid her until time to leave. That way neither of them would have to be embarra.s.sed by the awkwardness of a possibly unpleasant meeting. With that decided, she tried to get some sleep but spent the next hour tossing and turning. Funny the things one can talk themselves into when trying to avoid being hurt.

Kris took her time soaking in a hot bubble bath since she wouldn't have a chance to see Raven until later tonight. She had driven herself crazy the past day and a half with worrying about what was bothering her friend and if she didn't put it out of her mind before tonight, she'd be a raving lunatic by the time she confronted the woman. She peeled one eye open and looked at her white and wrinkled hand. 'Yuck, I'll be a prune permanently if I don't get out of here.' Water sloshed over the edge of the tub, as she was standing up and an unrestrained smile spread across her face. She remembered the hours she and Gwen would spend in the tub making up stories of fairy tale princess and the knights that would brave horrible dangers to rescue them. And the one time they had gotten a little too enthusiastic and just about flooded the bathroom. Her mother had been furious even though the maid would be the one cleaning it up. Kris shook her head and returned to her bedroom to find her sister sitting on the bed waiting.

"Don't you think this dress is kinda, oh what's the word I'm looking for...drab, conservative, boring!" Viv was staring at the cream colored, long sleeved, calf length, high necked and unadorned dress that was hanging on the closet door.

"That's three words." Kris sat down in the chair at her dressing table and held up her hand to forestall her sister's reb.u.t.tal. "Those are the exact reasons I bought it. I'm not real sure why Parker agreed to go, but I'm not going to be some kind of ornament he can hang on his arm and show off. In fact I plan on spending the entire night pretending he's not there." She turned around to face the mirror and removed the towel from her head.

Viv leaned back on her elbows laughing. "That sounds like it's going to be a fun night. I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall." She let her amus.e.m.e.nt die down. "Have you had a chance to talk to Raven?"

Kris turned to face her sister. "No." She played nervously with the brush in her hands. "I'm going by her hotel after the opera."

"With Parker, Gwen and her husband tagging along?" Viv asked wide-eyed, thinking Raven wouldn't be too pleased with that entourage showing up on her doorstep, so-to-speak.

"Oh no." Kris rea.s.sured her. "John's going to talk to one of the Secret Service guys he knows and for one of them to drive me to the hotel in a separate car."

"Ah, I see." Viv saw her chance at some good-natured teasing. "So, you going to pack an overnight bag?" She glanced up at her sister and the blush that was covering her face and burst out laughing.

"VIV!" Kris threw her damp towel at her sister. "I can't believe you." But soon found her siblings laughter contagious and joined in.

Unfortunately Raven picked that moment to sneak past a certain bedroom door and heard the unreserved mirth. She blinked her eyes at the sudden moisture she found blurring her vision and hurried down the stairs and out the front door. She sat in the car with her head resting on the steering wheel. 'Just be happy for her Raven, she deserves better than you and you know it.' She sat back and started the engine. 'But does she have to be so d.a.m.n cheerful about it? Couldn't she at least act like it was a hard choice? Like we might have had a chance together?' She looked over her right shoulder as she backed down the drive and into the street. She put the car in drive and sped away, refusing to look back.

Gwen and Harold met Kris and Parker at the house and drove to the restaurant with them. The two men seemed to have found a common interest, investing in the stock market, which left the ladies free to entertain each other.

"So, where are we going to eat?" Kris asked.

"We are going to Astolpho's at the Marcello Hotel." Gwen had a euphoric expression on her face as she placed her hands together, one on top of the other, and brought them to rest against her chest. "And, Kris, one doesn't eat at Astolpho's."

Kris glared at Gwen, confusion written across her face. "I thought we were going to dinner? I'm hungry." She crossed her arms in front of her. "I didn't eat lunch. Don't you dare tell me this is one of those places where you pay through the nose for a sprig of parsley and a glob of raw fish."

"Oh, Kris." Gwen laughed. "We will have dinner. But you go to eat at McDonald's. You go to Astolpho's to have a dining experience." She patted her friend's leg. "And I promise, no sushi."

"They better have normal food on that menu, Gwen." Kris threatened.

"They have great food." Harold leaned forward and joined the conversation. "Loin of venison, that comes with chestnuts and mushrooms in a wine sauce."

Kris interrupted him. "I don't eat venison and before you go down the entire menu, I also don't eat veal or lamb."

"I would have thought that with living in Turkey you would have developed a taste for lamb. Isn't that one of the main food staples over there?" Harold asked.

Parker laughed and jumped in. "Yes it is." He answered the question. "Ask her why she won't eat it." He added laughing harder when he remembered Kris' silly explanation.

Kris sent an irritated glare in his direction that abruptly quieted him down. "I've never actually tried any." They looked at her funny. "It's just that deer and calves and lambs are so cute. I could never bring myself to try any." She shrugged her shoulders, not about to apologize for her soft heart.

Gwen shook her head and smiled, she had forgotten what a soft heart her friend had when it came to cute fuzzy little animals. "Okay, how about other than raw fish? They've got a really great salmon steak." She paused until Kris confirmed her fondness for seafood, then Gwen told her about desert and the restaurant's specialty, The Crunchy Napoleon. Layers of caramelized dough between creamy vanilla custard drizzled with b.u.t.terscotch and dark chocolate.

Kris closed her eyes and knew she was in trouble.

Raven sat in her suite staring out into the night and finished her second rum and c.o.ke. She had been berating herself most of the afternoon, for letting Kris get inside her normally impenetrable walls that she had painstakingly built around her heart. She still couldn't blame her for wanting out of the relationship. 'Kris deserves better than an emotional cripple like me.' Raven kept telling herself. Other than John and his fiancee Sharon and Granny, she hadn't let anybody close since she lost her younger brother and walked away from her family. She stood and walked to the floor to ceiling window that looked out over the city and rested her forehead against the cool gla.s.s. "If I could just stop thinking about her." She stated angrily at herself for not being able to get the blond woman out of her head.

John jogged over to Sharon and hugged her. "Sorry, it took me forever to find a parking s.p.a.ce." He placed a kiss on her cheek. "How was the flight?" He had asked Sharon to meet him in DC. He had wanted a few days for them to spend together away from the wedding preparations and their families. Both families got along great, but their mothers were driving them crazy. What had started out as a simple wedding, planned for Valentines Day, was turning into a three-ring circus.

"It was good. Bad weather over the mid-west, but we were above it." She placed her arm around his waist as they started down the concourse, towards baggage claim. Sharon was a foot and a half shorter than her husband-to-be and had a darker skin tone than John did. Her light brown hair was shoulder length and straight. She was a small boned woman that looked almost like a kid next to her tall fiance. But John learned early in their courtship that this pet.i.te woman packed quite a temper.

"You ready for dinner?" He asked with a smile. John had been amazed the first time they had gone out to dinner, Sharon had easily eaten at least twice as much as he had and still demolished her piece of cheesecake and most of his cherry pie. It reminded him of Kris. 'I guess it must be a special gene short people only get.'

She elbowed him in the gut. "What do you think?" She grinned.

John grabbed the two bags as Sharon pointed them out. "Two? You're only going to be here a couple of days." John had learned early on in their relationship that Sharon packed for any conceivable emergency.

Sharon knew something was bothering John even though he was trying to hide it, but waited until they were in the car to ask. "Is whatever's troubling you something you can talk about or is it the last mission?" Being a naturally curious person, she was downright nosy and she knew it, it had bothered her in the beginning of their relationship that John couldn't talk too much about his work, at least the part involving the a.s.signments and their clients, all the juicy parts she had kidded him once.

He paid the parking attendant and pulled into the lane of traffic leaving the airport. "Both." He told her of Raven and Kris' relationship and his growing concern over his Captain's despondent mood. And that she had avoided him and Kris the entire day. "I left a message at the hotel that Kris was coming by tonight, but I don't know if she's gotten it or not." He turned into the hotel drive and stopped the car. "Do you think I did the right thing, telling Kris to come by tonight?"

She patted his leg rea.s.suringly. "Something's definitely wrong, at least as far as Raven's concerned and it sounds like they need to work it out. So yeah, I think you did the right thing." They headed towards the elevators after planting a kiss on his cheek. "You want to see if Raven wants to go to dinner with us?" She asked after they had gotten off on the ninth floor.

"Yeah." John smiled at his fiancee as he held the room door open for her to enter. "Maybe you can get her to open up."

Kris was able to ignore Parker, for the most part, during dinner. She divided her focus between Gwen, sitting to her left and Harold to her right. She never looked in Parker's direction, across the table from her, even when he tried to gain her attention with a question, which she replied to with one word monotone answers.

Gwen had been observing the interaction, or lack thereof, between the couple and a.s.sumed that they had probably just had a fight. It wasn't until halfway through dessert that her brain kicked in and she realized that Kris wasn't wearing an engagement ring. "Have you two set a date for the wedding yet? I a.s.sume it's going to be here, in town." She asked.

Parker, who had looked at this evening as a way to get Kris away from 'that unnatural woman' and back under his protective influence, answered. "We haven't set a date yet." He turned from Gwen to Kris. "We probably should do that soon. Shouldn't we, dear?"

Kris looked surprised, which quickly turned to anger. "Excuse me." She through her napkin into her plate stood abruptly and headed toward the restroom.

Gwen had followed her friend and as she entered the lounge area, the restroom attendant was staring nervously at the pacing, mumbling young woman. Gwen patted the older woman's hand. "Give us a minute, please." The attendant nodded and left.

"No, I don't want to talk about it." Kris firmly stated as Gwen stood in front of her to stop her pacing.

"Okay, okay." Gwen put her hands up in a placating manner. "Everybody has arguments. Harold and I fought up until the day before our wedding." She was still curious about the missing engagement ring but didn't want to push her fuming friend. 'I have the rest of the night to wheedle it out of her.'

A change of subject was definitely in order. "Shouldn't we be leaving? We don't want to be late." Kris felt guilty for not confessing the truth about Parker to her friend but also felt relieved that she still had her secret about her feelings for Raven. No matter how nonjudgmental Viv and Issy had been, it didn't mean everyone else would be.

"Yes. I hope they've paid the check so we don't have to wait." Gwen stated as the two friends walked out the door with arms linked together.

Kris was a little surprised at Gwen giving up so easily but wasn't going to debate her good fortune.

After putting the luggage in their room, Sharon and John headed up to the top floor to see if they could talk his depressed Captain into joining them for dinner. "Maybe she's already gone to eat? It is getting kind of late." Sharon commented when they received no answer to their knocking.

"Maybe." John responded. "Let's head down to the desk and see if they know if she left the hotel." Their inquiry at the concierge desk pointed them towards the health club. "I should have headed here first." John sighed. "When she's upset she works out." He explained to Sharon, who was still learning about the sometimes complicated Captain and her moods. He easily spotted the tall figure that was in the small free weight area doing arm curls and headed that way.