(edited 5 Dec 2004)



*Chapter Ten*



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“Paula is your mother?”

Shane gaped at the redhead seated across from her, trying to see any evidence of a genetic connection between this beautiful and mysterious woman and the rough and ready bar owner. She couldn’t help but smirk at the thought of Paula as a high society wife.

Lara smiled at the dramatic reaction from the increasingly less stoic brunette she was coming to know. “No, not quite.” She slowly took a sip of her coffee, beginning to realise just how much she enjoyed this gentle toying with Shane. “Paula was my mother’s partner.”

Shane immediately picked up on the past tense, prodding carefully, “Was?”

“Yeah, my mom died five years ago from breast cancer.” Shane could see Lara’s pain clearly as she spoke of her mother, not quite knowing what to say she continued to hold her hand across the table, lightly stroking her thumb across the chef’s knuckles allowing Lara to go on at her own pace. “It was fairly fast, she’d only just been diagnosed when I got back in contact with her and less than two years later she was gone.” She gently squeezed Shane’s hand in acknowledgment of her support. “I got to know Paula pretty well in that time, as well as her family, so I try to keep in contact.” At Shane’s crinkled brow she added, “Paula is Uncle Louie’s daughter; Joey’s little sister.”

Shane was a little dumbfounded. Not only had Lara just revealed a fairly significant chunk of her life history, but she’d also pulled back the veil to some degree on the woman Shane regarded as her saviour. She had never really known any personal details about Paula’s life; about her family, or her relationship, or the loss of her partner. She had almost been like a mythical figure to the brunette; a guardian angel who had picked her up, healed her wounds and pointed her towards the light. That had been almost five years ago, and given what Lara had just told her she figured her first fateful meeting with Paula in that dark alley must have taken place not long after the death of Lara’s mother.

“Shane?” Lara prompted, seeing her friend was lost in thought.

The brunette snapped back at the sound of her voice, still trying to put together the timeline in her head. “Sorry, I’m just trying to work stuff out. When did you mother die?” she asked tentatively.

“Five years ago on Thursday. It’s why I was at Paula’s that night, we got together for dinner at Uncle Louie’s and then some of us went for drinks at Paula’s.”

The brunette just nodded. “Three months,” she murmured, more to herself then anything.

“Huh?”

Shane cleared her throat, trying to bring her focus back to the redhead and away from her memories. “Sorry, just thinking. I met Paula not long after that, about three months later. I never really knew all that much about her, other than she’s pushy and stubborn, she owns a bar, and she changed my life.”

“Ok.” Was all Lara could say, even though her companion’s explanation had only opened up new questions. “How exactly did she change your life?”

Shane’s eyes lit up as she smiled across the table. “She saved me,” she answered with reverence, not sure she was ready to go into her life pre-Paula in any great detail, but feeling that she needed to at least be honest with her friend. ‘After all, turn about is fair play,’ she thought ruefully. “I didn’t exactly have a picture perfect childhood and adolescence. By the time I was 14 I was living off my own means and I wasn’t exactly doing the best job of it. Let’s just say I abused my body and soul in many different ways and sometimes that left me open to abuse from others. Well one of these occasions left me beaten and unconscious in the alley behind Paula’s bar almost five year ago. She took me in, cleaned me up, and told me that I was worth more than a senseless death in a dark alley. For some reason the message sunk in and I decided to change.” She finished with a sigh, knowing she hadn’t given Lara anywhere near as much information as she wanted, but also somehow knowing the redhead wouldn’t push her. She looked up into the steady gaze of her friend seeing only kindness and knew that she would one day tell Lara the whole story and that in doing so would make her the first to know everything. ‘God, getting a bit ahead of yourself, McCutcheon. What is it about this woman that makes you want to spill your guts,’ Shane thought to herself.

Needing to escape the potential melancholy of her thoughts she forced a grin and added with sarcastic self-deprecation, “So here I am!”

Lara recognised the wall going up, and couldn’t help but notice that it seemed to be getting thinner and thinner around her, she smiled openly, her bright blue eyes locked with Shane’s green. “Yes, here you are,” she agreed gently, taking all the sarcasm of Shane’s comment and turning it into affection.



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Alice groaned pitifully before taking a quick gasping breath into her starved lungs only to release it with another groan under the dead weight of her girlfriend. She continued to take short sharp pants trying to recover. She felt her body start to unconciously relax now that she was breathing semi regularly, and brought her hands up to push at Dana’s shoulders trying to ease the weight on her squashed ribs. “Get off me, you big oaf!”, she huffed, as she flopped the athlete over onto her back with little help from Dana.

The brunette pulled her top off her head and chanced a glance across at Alice, trying to read her face to determine if the blonde was really as pissed off as she sounded. ‘Good one, Dana, way to kill the mood geek-style.’ Seeing that Alice looked to be in pain, she sat up quickly. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? Alice?”

“God, I think you corked my thigh,” Alice moaned, sitting up slowly and tenderly prodding her bruised thigh through her pants. She looked across at Dana seeing the worried frown on her face and smirked slightly to ease her mind. “You and your knobby knees,” she joked, letting the smirk turn into a grin.

“Hey, my knees are not knobby, thankyou!” Dana cried in outrage and hurriedly covered her knees with her hands as if for their own modesty, despite their being already covered in denim. “And besides, if you hadn’t decided to take your shoes off right at the top of the stairs I wouldn’t have ran into you,” the brunette stated indignantly.

“Well, if you hadn’t tried to take you top off while running up said stairs you would’ve seen where you were going,” Alice shot back with a serious tone that was totally put off by the grin on her face. Their eyes locked for a moment before they both broke into a fit of laughter, Dana flopping back on the floor with a thump, covering her eyes with one arm as she continued to shake with laughter.

“God, I’m such a geek, trust me to do something klutzy at the wrong moment.” Dana lifted her arm slightly to peek up at Alice. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting into?”

Despite the slight throb in her thigh and tenderness of her ribs, the blonde rolled onto her hands and knees and slowly crawled her way up Dana’s body until she was looking directly down into hazel eyes. She laid her body down flat along the length of the tennis player, resting her forearms on either side of Dana’s face. She leaned down gently brushing her soft lips against Dana’s in a hint of a kiss before pushing back up to lean on her elbows. “Lucky for you, Dana Fairbanks, I know exactly what I’m getting into, geek and all. In fact, I happen to be in love with a geek. Yeah, really, you wouldn’t believe it. A beautiful, klutzy, very adorable geek; with a hot body and a habit of sticking her foot in her mouth. She’s my best friend, I can tell her anything, and just the thought of kissing her makes my stomach go all mushy.” At the mention of a kiss Alice leaned down to bestow another fleetingly light teasing kiss on the brunette’s lips, and then suddenly pulled back. “Oh, and she’s an athlete, can you believe it, I’m dating an athlete. I’m thinking, hel-lo stamina, if you know what I mean,” she finished with a cheeky grin and exaggerated wink, topping it off with a suggestive cluck of her tongue.

Dana reached up, threading her hands into the grinning blonde’s hair and pulled her down into a hungry kiss. Alice responded immediately, moving to cup the back of Dana’s head trying to increase contact and opening her mouth to meet Dana’s seeking tongue. As their tongues brushed against each other they both moaned, revelling in the sensation of the heated kiss, but knowing they needed more. Needed to touch, to taste, to crawl inside each other or as close as possible. Dana slowly ran one hand down Alice’s side and slipped it under the blonde’s open shirt, sliding her hand around to cradle Alice’s bare back as she carefully rolled them over. Alice was so caught up in the taste and feel of Dana’s mouth on hers didn’t fully register the change in position until she felt the slight press of her girlfriend’s weight on her sore ribs. She pulled back from the kiss with a pained gasp.

“What? What is it? Alice?” Dana questioned worriedly, pulling back and glancing down at Alice unsure what she’d done. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“Hey, Dane, it’s alright, just sore ribs, remember,” she replied soothingly.

“Oh my god, are you alright? I didn’t even think. Could they be broken, maybe we should go get them x-rayed to make sure. Oh god, I’m sorry.” She glanced up into Alice’s eyes with shame. “I hurt you.”

“Hey, Dane. Dana? Hey, baby what are you talking about, I’m fine. They’re just a little sore, I’d forgotten as well until you pressed on them.” Alice reached up cupping Dana’s cheek with a smile. “And you didn’t hurt me, you idiot, it was an accident.”

Dana started to lighten up, but continued to look concerned. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes Dana, I’m fine, they’re just a little tender.” She looked up at the brunette mischievously. “But you know what this means, don’t you?”

“What?” Dana answered carefully, not quite knowing what the blonde what getting at.

“I get to be on top,” Alice smirked cheekily and she carefully stood up, intent on finishing this in the bedroom.



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The sun was setting as they walked quietly and leisurely along the street having left Louie’s Diner, Shane insisting on paying despite Lara’s arguments. They had decided to walk the couple of blocks to Paula’s bar to say hello and maybe share a drink, but really neither of them wanted the evening to end and this seemed like a good reason to continue it. They had both revealed certain things about themselves and their pasts in the comfortable surroundings of Louie’s and now that they had walked back out into the bustling street and the real world they weren’t sure what was expected.

Shane already knew she was attracted to the beautiful redhead, and had been ever since she first saw her during their mission to determine her sexual orientation for Dana. The fact that she didn’t even get a hint reciprocated attraction from Lara had only made her more appealing at the time. She would never have made a move though, because regardless of her well-known reputation as a player she was a loyal friend and would never even think of betraying Dana like that. But now she was in an unknown area for her, she liked Lara too much as a friend to ***** her, there was already a personal investment here, she wouldn’t be able to just walk away and what’s more she wasn’t even sure she would want to. But did she want to risk what was turning into potentially a close, trusting friendship by pushing for more? ‘Face it, McCutcheon, you don’t even know if she’d be interested. Ok, so maybe you can see she’s interested, doesn’t mean she wants to actually get involved with you. I mean, come on, why would she; she knows what you’re like, she’s seen you in action, how can you expect her to trust you?’ Shane swallowed hard at her inner monologue, her eyes focused on the pavement as she continued to berate herself for even considering someone like Lara would stoop so low. The brunette chanced a glance up at her companion, the movement caught Lara’s attention and she looked across meeting the surprisingly open and vulnerable green eyes, holding her gaze for a moment before refocusing on the street ahead.

Lara too was confused by her own thoughts and reactions to the friendship developing with this scruffy enigma of a woman. She had bared her past to Shane today; told her private details about herself and her parents, things she rarely talked about and never with someone who hadn’t been directly involved. But telling Shane had been so easy, and although she knew she should feel vulnerable, she trusted Shane with the information and knew that she would keep it in confidence. Lara glanced across at the brunette whose eyes were fixed to the pavement, she could feel this mutual attraction growing between them with the gentle flirting and occasional glances that held more than friendship. She somehow also knew that Shane would leave the ball in her court even though it seemed to go against her confident nature and definitely against her reputation.

Determined to get away from her internal musings Lara decided to break the silence. “So do you want to tell me why Steve Jaffe felt the need to accost you in the street?” she asked, even though she already knew the reason, but she was finding out she liked playing with Shane, drawing out a reaction.

Shane kept her eyes firmly on the pavement. “I slept with his wife,” she said simply. “More than once.” Somehow what had seemed like a great thing at the time now seemed tawdry as she confessed it to her friend. ‘God, what the ***** is wrong with me. It’s not like she was the first married woman I’ve fucked. *****, she’s not even the second.’

“Yeah, I figured.” Having expected a little more out of the brunette, Lara realised if she wanted the dirt she was going to need a shovel. “So how did you meet her?”

Shane shoved her hands in her pockets and shrugged. “Did her hair. She was interested, I was willing, situation was right…She almost seemed lonely, like she was looking for something and I was it. It was fun while it lasted.”

Lara could see Shane’s defensive posture creeping in, but trudged on anyway. “I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but you weren’t the first and probably won’t be the last. Granted she usually goes for toy ‘boys’, but she’s fairly notorious in the ‘A-ladies’ circles for her younger flings.”

“Yeah?” Shane glanced across at the redhead knowing she was being honest. “I wouldn’t have guessed at first, she seemed so new to it. She seemed to like the risk factor though. Did Steve know about the others?” Shane relaxed her posture a little though kept her hands in her pockets, unconsciously letting her guard down again as they neared the bar.

“I’m fairly sure he would have, so obviously Steve has more of a problem with your gender than your age or the ***** his wife thing,” Lara reasoned, opening the door and holding it open for Shane.

“Seems that way.” The brunette simply walked through the door, not even thinking of her usual reaction to such a gesture.

The redhead only raised an eyebrow before turning to follow Shane to the bar. Upon seeing the two enter the stocky woman behind the bar looked a little surprised but nonetheless pleased.



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