“I know.” Dar leaned forward and put her head down on her crossed wrists.
“Do I get a say in this?”
Dar felt like she should be mad at the question, and she could see Kerry's temper prickling. “That's why I asked you what you'd say.” She remarked. “It was something I was just thinking about. Gerry just called. They want to quadruple the scope of that systems refresh.”
“And?”
“And, if I”m fully involved in that government clusterfuck, chances are I can't get sucked into whatever the president has in mind.”
Kerry watched her quietly. “Can't you say no to both of them?”
“I could.” Dar agreed. “But my gut instinct is, if I walk out now, everyone we know here is going to pay the price. Do I want that on my conscience?” She blinked at her lover. “I should have just handed in my creds in NY.”
“Mm.” The blond woman grunted softly.
“I'm not going to say anything. You chew it over and see what you think.” Dar said. “While you're on your way to go change your name to mine.” Her eyes twinkled a little. “Ker, I want to do what's best for us. That means long term as well as short term.”
Kerry sighed. “I wanted to go travel with you.” She said. “It really makes me feel crappy to know that's not going to happen, Dar.” She admitted. “I'm tired of doing this. I don't want to spend more time listening to people yell at me, or want me to pull cats out of my butt for them.”
Dar got up and circled her desk, holding out her hands to Kerry and pulling her upright when she grasped them. “Nuff said.” She leaned over and kissed Kerry on the lips. “Then we go.”
All the roiling tension that had built up in the few minutes evaporated. Kerry leaned against her partner and rested her head against Dar's collarbone. “Now that I've had my mini tantrum and you've indulged my brattiness, let me mull it over.” She said. “Talking to Mark was making me think about it too. There's a lot of people here who are invested in the leadership we give them.”
Unseen, Dar smiled.
“Especially Mayte and Maria.” Kerry finished, quietly. “There's a lot of trust there.”
“A lot of your hard work salvaging my reputation there.” Dar disagreed, then she looked down as Kerry pulled back and looked up at her. “Damn good job.”
Kerry stretched up and gave her a kiss, then patted her on the side. “Be back in a little while.” She headed for the door, a faint smile on her face as she shook her head.
Dar sat on the edge of her desk and folded her arms. Then she got up and went back to her chair, whistling softly under her breath.
Kerry stood patiently in line, her sunglasses perched firmly on her nose as she ignored the din around her in the county courthouse. There were a lot of people inside, doing a lot of things she really had no interest or knowledge of. The line she was in at the moment promised to end up with her obtaining the forms she needed, and the notary public she would need to sign off on the papers was available as well.
It felt a little strange to be here. Kerry folded her arms over her chest, keeping her eyes mostly on the ground and not meeting anyone's gaze.
“Thanks for nothin!” The man in front of her slammed his hand against the window and left, leaving the clerk behind it shaking her head.
She paused a moment, then glanced at Kerry. “Next?”
Next. Kerry walked up to the window. “Could I please have the forms I need to change my name?”
The clerk gave her a bored look, then she got up and went to a file cabinet, opening a drawer and shuffling through some folders. She withdrew a set of forms and came back, sliding them under the bulletproof glass window into Kerry's hands. “There ya go.”
“Thanks.” Kerry took her papers and went to a nearby stand up desk, removing a pen from her pocket and studying the questions. “Okay, well, let's get this over with.” She started filling it out, resting her arm on the table and scribbling through the questions.
Some she got. “Full current legal name.” She printed hers in neatly spaced letters. “Second question. What is my complete present name. What?” She peered at it. “Isn't that the same thing?” With a shake of her head she obediently filled it in. Then - “I request that my name be changed to?”
Kerry paused, and studied the line. She took a breath and flexed her fingers, then filled the line in. “Kerrison Roberts.”
It was a very strange feeling, a mixture of relief and apprehension, a mental awareness of a vivid crossroad visible only to her.
Did Dar get why she was doing this? Her partner had seemed okay with it, pleased, in fact, but how could Dar really understand when she herself had never faced the question?
Ah well. Kerry took another breath and carried on filling out the rest of the form, all four pages of it, racing through the rest of it not pausing to wonder why they needed to know what college she went to, or what her profession was.
When she finished, she took it over to the notary desk, and paid the fee to have it stamped, signing it in front of a sleepy looking man with a bad toupee and a tattoo of a smiley face on the back of his hand.
He didn't actually look at the papers. He just signed is name and applied his stamp, and pushed the papers back at her without even looking up.
“Thanks.” Kerry said, taking her forms and going back to stand in line again. She checked her watch, then she opened her palm pilot and tapped in a quick note. After about 15 minutes she was at the front of the line again, and stepping forward to hand the woman her forms.
The clerk sniffed, and shuffled through them, reading quickly through it. “Two hundred and five dollars please.” She looked up at Kerry expectantly. “Cash or check.”
Kerry removed her checkbook from the inside pocket of her jacket and filled out a check, glancing at the chipped plastic sign to determine who to make it out to. She signed it, then she removed it from the book and handed it over. “So I have to post this somewhere now?”
The clerk looked at her like she was crazy. “Say what?” She asked. “No. You gotta get a court date. You go over there, and fill out that form and put it in the box. They'll call you.” She stapled the check to Kerry's form and put it into a plastic folder, and handed her a slip of paper. “Your case number. Next?”
A little startled, Kerry backed off from the window and got out of the way as a man and woman pushed into her place. She hesitated, then she went to the form on the wall, examining it. “Request a hearing?” She pulled a copy down and filled it out, putting the case number on it before she dropped it into the slot.
Then she looked around, the din around her suddenly harsh and metallic, irritating her senses. She put her pen away and went for the door, fastening her jacket as she cleared the doors to the courthouse and emerged into the bright, cool, sunny weather outside.
Her cell phone rang. She pulled it out and stepped to one side to avoid the crowd on the stairs. “Kerry Stuart.” She answered, covering her free ear.
“Hey.” Dar's voice echoed softly. 'Where are you?”
“Just leaving the courthouse.” Kerry glanced around. “Why?”
“Meet you for lunch? My noon conference call just got canceled.” Her partner told her. “Big storm over in Europe, everyone's going home.”
“Sure.” Kerry said. “Thai place, ten minutes.”
“See ya.”
Kerry hung up the phone and leaned against the stone wall, collecting her wits and composure. The process hadn't gone at all how she'd expected it to, and now she was really glad that Dar was coming out to join her for lunch. She wanted to talk. About the court, and about Dar's sudden revelation.