The offices above were already quiet. The staffers had gone home-- those that could--and the rest were going with them to stay at the hotel until they were allowed back downtown. Alastair had visited the hotel manager and leased out a floor of the place to give the dispossessed a place to call home that wasn't the office they'd been camping in.
Life was moving on. One of the salesmen had commented on it as they'd broke up and closed the office down for the first time since the attack. There was a sense of sadness about that, a grief that was only partially acknowledged, and not yet dispelled.
She could see Dar, leaning against the wall, her hands in her pockets as she talked to one of the New York staff. Her partner looked tired.There was an uncharacteristic slump to her body posture that was visible to Kerry, if not to anyone else, and she felt a moment of impatience that they had to postpone a retreat to their room if even for the best of motives.
Dar sensed their approach and looked up, past the person she was talking to right into Kerry's eyes. Her expression shifted and one brow raised, the message as clear as the crystal goblets in the store fronts she was passing.
Absolutely expressive. Kerry could recall only a few times she'd seen that particular look, usually at the end of a very long day, when the inner door to her office would open, and Dar would be leaning on it looking at her with that look, and saying "Take me home."
Everything went into the to-do folder when that happened. No matter if she was working on who knows what urgent problem, she'd put her phone on voice mail, pick up her laptop, and they'd go. That look was where the line was drawn, and always had been.
"All right, we're all accounted for," Kerry said, as she reached her partner's side. "Let's roll, people." She waited for Dar to push away from the wall and then she put an arm around her, giving her back a little rub with her fingers.
They climbed up the steps and out into the night, crossing the marble courtyard and heading for the streets beyond. Traffic had picked up a trifle, and the streets seemed busier, but Kerry wasn't sure if that was something really different or if it was because it was Saturday night and more people would be out.
Dar's arm settled over her shoulders with welcome warmth. She looked up at Dar. "Tired?"
"Headache," Dar replied briefly. "Looking forward to kicking back and chilling."
"Me too." Kerry exhaled. "I think I'll settle for a bowl of soup for dinner and a bubble bath."
"Mmhg." Dar made a low sound of appreciation. "And ice cream," she added.
"Of course."
They followed the group along the sidewalk, not at the very back, but near it. Kerry was glad the pace was casual, since the long day of running around had tired her out. She also had a slight headache, and the cool breeze felt good despite the city scents in it.
She felt a little sweaty, a little dusty, and another thought crossed her mind. "Hey Dar?"
"Mm?" Dar seemed supremely content to amble silently at her side.
"That hotel has a pool, doesn't it?"
"I think so. Wow. A swim sounds like a great idea." Dar perked up a little bit. "What made you think of that?"
"You in a bathing suit," Kerry answered. She felt Dar twitch a little, then start to laugh. "You asked."
"I did." Dar chuckled, giving her a one-arm hug.
A tall figure dropped back to join them. "Hey there." Andrew greeted them. "What are you kids up to?"
"I was just going to ask you that, Dad," Kerry responded. "We haven't seen you since lunch. What have you been up to?" She tucked her free hand through Andrew's elbow. "I heard some of the guys saying you were yelling at someone before."
"Wall." Andrew made a dismissive gesture. "I been sticking around that coon ass He got himself mixed up with some of them gov'mint fellers and they was giving him a hive over some reports. Fellers were jackass rude."
"Alastair was telling us about the FBI wanting more reports. Was that it?" Kerry asked.
Andrew nodded. "Yeap. Got my back up when they started saying how they were thinking how cause all them boys of yours weren't from here that we were some suspect or something."
"What?"
Dar craned her neck around to look at her father. "What?"
"Yeap," Andrew said. "Don't know where they got that idea, but ah talked to them about it and I think they're all right with it now."
"Huh." Kerry frowned. 'What's that all about? Dar, we've had non US workers on visa to us here for years. You know as well as I do we take every qualified network tech we can find."
"I know," Dar said her expression a little grim. "But I also know there's an isolationist streak in this country a mile wide, and I've got a feeling this disaster is going to give that a chance to show."
"Them folks just ain't been much in the world." Andrew remarked.
"My father was one of those people," Kerry said. "He used to say all the time that we had to watch out for what he called that 'foreign element'."
A siren erupted nearby and everyone flinched. But it was only a lone police car pulling around a corner and racing through the taxi crowded street with lights flashing.
"And a couple days ago, what was undeniably a foreign element, killed a few thousand people and brought down two buildings and part of a third." Kerry went on. "So maybe those people feel justified."
They walked along in silence for a few minutes crossing a street at the light and moving along the block toward their hotel. Their colleagues were walking in a group around them, talking in low voices.
"Country's always had people from other places," Andrew finally said. "Ain't nobody hardly can say they b'long here."
"No one likes to remember that in times like this." Kerry agreed wryly. "My father's family, back in the early nineteen hundreds, came from Scotland." She paused. "My mother's came from Germany. "
"Wall." Andrew scratched his ear. "I believe my folks been here a while longer. Dar's mother's folks came with them Pilgrims."
Kerry turned her head and stared at her partner, one blond brow arching sharply.
Dar shrugged. "She thinks it's funny."
"No wonder she made that crack about the turkey last Thanksgiving," Kerry said. "But anyway, here's the hotel. Let's leave this for tomorrow, and take a mind break. Okay?"
"Sounds good to me." Dar was glad to see the doors to the hotel.Her headache had gotten worse during the walk and even the enticing leather chairs of the bar weren't appealing to her. There was noise there, and people moving around, and she wanted none of it.
"Alastair?" Kerry called out softly, as they entered the lobby.
Their CEO turned, spotting them and pulling up. "Well, hello there. Glad to be at the end of this long day as I am?"
"You bet," Kerry said. "Hey, looks like they resumed the games this weekend."
The bar was relatively crowded with most of the screens shifted from CNN's tense pictures to the colorful flash of football and green grass, and the drone of the stadium. One screen, a large one in the back, had the news going, but most of the patrons were around the bar with an attitude of perceptible relief.
"You a fan?" Alastair asked.
"Not so much." Kerry admitted.
They paused in front of the bar--the big group of them--watching the screens.
"Hey, folks."Alastair addressed them. "Give me an ear, eh?"
Everyone turned to face him. "We've got the whole floor, matter of fact, we took over the concierge lounge up there too. It's got a big screen. How about we all go up there and I'll get some suds in, and we can watch from there."
Big smiles.
"You are a real cool dude," Scuzzy said. "Anyone ever tell you that?"
Alastair managed a brief grin, and then he waved them toward the elevators. "Let's put this plan into action then, shall we?" He waited for the group to start trouping toward the end of the lobby, before he turned to Dar and Kerry. "Feel free to skip the game shindig, ladies. I'm sure you have other things to do."