Both of Dar's eyebrows lifted, and her blue eyes widened. "What?"
"Tell me a story." Kerry repeated. "C'mon, I know you know some."
Dar searched through her memories, hoping her partner wasn't expecting a once upon a time kind of tale since she'd been reading things other than Jack and Jill since she'd been a pre-schooler, and Andrew had never subscribed to Mother Goose.
Did she know any stories suitable for Kerry's adorable ears? "Wanna hear about my tenth birthday?"
"Sure." Kerry pressed her ear against Dar's chest, listening to her heartbeat. It had that odd little echo beat, from the anomaly she had in her chest, a rhythm Kerry had become quite fond of.
"Okay," Dar said. "When I was ten years old, we moved from Florida to Virginia because that's where my dad was stationed for a while."
"Mm. I can't picture you in Virginia."
"Neither could I," Dar agreed. "I missed my friends on the base something awful, and I hated the new school I was in. They made us wear uniforms."
Kerry cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I know. Military brat doesn't like uniforms," Dar acknowledged. "It was a skirt, Ker. What can I tell you?"
Kerry's nose wrinkled. "Pleated?"
"Yes."
"Uuuugh."
"Anyway, since I didn't know squat about skirts, I put the damn thing on backwards," Dar said, "And wore it to school that way." A faint, self deprecating smile appeared. "No one noticed until lunchtime, but then some pissass rich girls cornered me in the cafeteria and started teasing me."
"Kids are so cruel, sometimes," Kerry agreed softly. "Most of them steered clear of us, but there was always talk, and they were always careful to make sure I heard it."
"Mm...well, they were all mostly older girls, and I guess they figured I was safe to make fun of," Dar mused. "I'd promised my dad I wouldn't make trouble in school, that I'd give it a while until I got used to everything."
"Ah."
"First time I ever broke a promise to him."
"Mm." Kerry nodded gently against Dar's body.
"I took hold of the biggest of them..."
"Bigger than you?" Kerry interrupted.
"Yeah," Dar agreed. "I didn't hit my growth spurt until I was, I think, twelve or thirteen. Anyway, I grabbed the biggest one and just tossed her over onto the ground and ripped her skirt off."
"Oh gosh." Kerry covered her eyes.
"Then I asked her which one of us was more ridiculous looking." Dar half smiled at the memory. "She was crying, the other kids were laughing and then the principal showed up." She chuckled. "He told me I was going to get a spanking. I told him..."
Kerry giggled.
"...my dad was going to kick his ass," Dar finished. "So we all ended up in the principal's office, and they called in the girl's parents, and my parents, and it was quite the circus in there. It turns out the girl's mother was an old acquaintance of my mother's, but not a fondly remembered one."
"Oh, my god. Did you end up in jail?"
"No." Dar shook her head. "We ended up in Dairy Queen," she said "We'd both been suspended for two days, and I was just so pissed off. I told them I'd rather go to reform school than stay there with those stuck up pieces of--"
"Would you really have?" Kerry asked. "Rather been in reform school? Dar, you're not a criminal."
"I would have fit in better there," Dar replied honestly. "And my father said just to give him a little time, and he'd fix it so we could go back home."
"Did he?"
Dar nodded. "I found out later he gave up a big promotion and a job he really wanted for it," she said. "But when I asked him about that, he just said his family and us being happy was more important to him than what he did."
Kerry pondered that for a minute. "There's a moral to this story isn't there?"
Dar hugged her. "Maybe." She exhaled. "Or maybe I'm just being nostalgic. That jackass who broke into the office tonight reminded me of that girl."
Kerry shifted and raised her head, kissing her partner on the lips. "Your father's a smartie." She rubbed noses with Dar. "And I like stories with a moral." She gave Dar a hug back, burying her face into the side of her partner's neck, and biting her gently.
"Oo."
"Mm."
"What was that about morals?"
Kerry just chuckled.
DAR SPENT A good while after she woke before dawn just relaxing in the darkness, her eyes mostly closed as she listened to the soft cycling on and off of the air conditioner. It was comfortable in the bedroom, the conditioner putting enough chill into the air to make the warm waterbed surface under them feel good, and there was a sense of peace in the townhouse that was very appealing.
It certainly was appealing to Dar, who was perfectly content to lie there and enjoy it as she pondered the coming day.
"Meatballs," Kerry muttered, under her breath. "Banana compote."
Dar's eyebrow twitched and she turned her head slightly to get a better view of her still sleeping, yet surprisingly chatty, partner. "Ker?" she whispered.
"Pencils don't do it." Kerry insisted.
Instantly, Dar's mind was alive with possibilities and she tried to figure out what Kerry was dreaming of. Pencils? Meatballs? What was banana compote, anyway? "Keeeerrry?" she warbled softly. "I loooooovvveee you."
Very slowly, a green orb appeared, focusing on her and visible in the low light from the clock. "I thought I heard a gopher."
"Hi."
Kerry rolled over onto her left side and snuggled back up to her partner. "Honey, you can wake me up saying you love me any day of the week," she uttered. "But did you have to do it before sunrise?"
"What were you dreaming about?"
"I wasn't." Kerry shook her head, then paused. "Why? Was I babbling again?"
Dar chuckled.
"Y'know, Dar, I never used to talk in my sleep before I met you." Kerry complained. "I'm sure my brother and sister would have mentioned it."
"How do you know?" Dar asked, reasonably. "You guys didn't sleep in the same bed, did'ja?"
Kerry's face scrunched up. "No!" She poked the taller woman in the ribs. "But Angie and I went to camp together," she explained. "I never would have lived it down if I talked in my sleep. What was I saying?"
"Gettysburg Address."
Kerry chewed on her lip. "Can't believe I actually remember that. Must be subliminal." She shook her head and closed her eyes.
Dar put her arm around Kerry and exhaled. "You were actually talking about meatballs and bananas."
Kerry opened one eye again. "Together?" she asked a touch hesitantly. "Hmm. Maybe I was dreaming I was pregnant."
Dar considered the question. "Something you aspire to?" she queried cautiously, her mind flashing back to a certain dream she'd had near the beginning of their relationship.
"Not unless you're volunteering to make me that way."
Dar's eyes widened slightly. "I think we need to go back to sleep."
"Good idea." Kerry gave her a pat on the belly.
Dar pulled the covers up and tucked them around Kerry's shoulders. They had at least an hour before it was time to get up, and she intended on using every minute of the time productively. Peace settled back down over the room after a moment.
It didn't last that long. "Ker?"
"Mm?"
"You know I can't really make you pregnant, right"
"Sure you could." Kerry gave her another comforting pat. "You can do anything you put your mind to. I have total confidence in you."
Silence fell for another brief moment. Then Dar cleared her throat gently. "That old Christian school of yours was a little light on science, huh?"
Kerry chuckled throatily, her shoulder shaking. "You know, I do remember what I was dreaming about," she admitted. "I was organizing a potluck for our office."
"Ah. That's where the pencils came in," Dar mused.