Leather And Lace Part 19

"What? You don't want her to call?" Raven looked at the dejected and self-conscious expression on Kris' face and was confused.

"No, I mean that's not it. I don't think I can...you know...with him in the same house." The young woman was rapidly turning red at the thought.

Raven had wondered many times how Kris could be so shy and uncertain when talking about s.e.x and in a blink of an eye, turn into such an aggressive and uninhibited lover. 'It's amazing what being h.o.r.n.y does for her confidence.' "Weren't you going to live under the same roof after you and numb nuts got married. What were you going to do then?"

"I planned on having a lot of headaches and planned on it being that time of the month quite often." Kris answered with only a slight hesitation.

Raven laughed. "Hadn't thought about it before now, had you?" She teased.

"No, I guess I always knew my knight in shining armor would come to my rescue." She lay back down and got comfortable. "We'll talk about whether or not you'll be getting any while they're here, later."

'Oh, I'll be getting some, or you, my friend, are going to be taking a lot of cold showers, cause I intend to frustrate you to the point of insanity if I don't.' She chuckled evilly.

"What was that for?" Kris yawned.

"Nothing, dear, go to sleep." The smile stayed on Raven's face while she imagined all the things that she could do to s.e.xually frustrate the young woman.

Deep down Kris knew she should probably be worried, but she'd deal with it when she wasn't so tired. "You need to sleep, too." She mumbled and lightly patted the stomach that her hand was resting on.

Lisa and Andy decided to wait until after dinner to discuss the problem and plan. Lisa had mentioned that she had cheesecake at her apartment, so dessert and coffee back at her place was agreed upon.

Lisa told him the entire story. "Some of what I read in that file makes since now. The part about the evidence that your sister gathered being thrown out of court is doc.u.mented. So that part's definitely true. When did your sister leave home again?" He opened the folder and looked over the papers.

"Let's see, it was a few years after Derek's death so that would mean I would have been about ten I think, and that would make it sometime around 1986 maybe '87. Why?"

"Then he died a couple of years after that, along with some of his gang members. Listed as a drug deal gone bad. Oh what a shame." He added sarcastically then filled Lisa in on what the rest of the file on one ex-gang leader contained.

"Bet he wishes he'd gone to jail." Lisa observed.

"Yeah, but he'd be out by now and more likely than not, that kind of sc.u.m doesn't get rehabilitated." He checked through some more of the papers in the folder. "Boy, your sister was awful young when she gathered the dirt on these guys."

"I can't believe Ra...she did all that by herself. I would have been scared to death." Lisa looked down at her hands self-consciously.

"Are you not telling me her name on purpose or what?" Andy asked in a curious voice. "She was underage at the time so it's not in the records."

"Yeah. She doesn't know what I'm planning on doing. I haven't gone back to talk to her after our fight. Well it wasn't a fight; I said a few not so nice things. And she kinda asked me to back off." She looked up pleadingly. "I know you went to a lot of trouble to get this stuff and all and I really do trust you not to say anything to anyone, but I'd like to keep her out of it until after I have a chance to talk to her about it."

"It's okay, Lisa, I understand. But you should talk to her; she might not want to dig up the past. She might not want to relive it." He picked up his coffee cup and leaned back. "Why don't you tell me more about Philip and your plan?"

Chapter Twenty:.

Kris opened her eyes and groaned. "Oh my G.o.d. I can not believe I slept the whole night on your shoulder." She stared accusingly at her companion. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"You've slept the whole night on my shoulder before and to be perfectly honest, I just woke up myself." Raven stretched as far as she could without pulling something loose.

"You weren't hurt before." Kris stood up to do her stretching. "Did you really sleep the whole night through?" Raven nodded her a.s.surance as a knock sounded and Kudirka appeared.

"Morning, ladies." He was checking the chart in his hands and missed the scowl on his patient's face. "You're doing incredibly well."

"You sound disappointed, Doc." Raven stated.

"No, I don't. Just perplexed as usual." He explained to Kris. "Every time she's in here I swear it'll be the time I figure out what makes her recover so quickly. I want to bottle it and give it to all my patients." He sat the chart on the bedside table. "I want to run some tests this afternoon and depending on the results, you might be able to go home in a couple of days. As long as you haven't scared off this nice young lady by then because you'll have to have someone there with you." He grinned.

"Well, Doc I keep trying to lose her but she keeps turning up like a bad penny. I, OW, that hurt." Raven complained loudly when Kris slapped her shoulder.

"Shush you big baby I didn't hit you that hard. See what I have to put up with?" She asked the doctor who was laughing at their antics.

He picked up his chart and headed for the door. "I will not take sides between the two of you. I'm sure you both could beat me up. I'll order those tests for after lunch, which, by the way, won't include chicken broth." He promised on his way out.

"I think the good doctor is scared of us, Taz." Kris was still staring at the closed door he had disappeared through.

"Good, because I plan on being home by New Years Eve one way or the other."

"I didn't know we had anything planned. Did you plan on a big millennium celebration?" Kris knew how the big 2000 virus 2001 set her partner off every time. She didn't understand why it bothered Raven so much; usually her mate could care less about insignificant matters such as this.

"No and it's not the new millennium." Raven protested scowling. "And you know how I hate that."

"Oh yeah, it's that whole Roman numeral thing and zero right?"

"Wrong, it's the whole, 'what dufus would start with the year zero' thing? It sounds kind of ominous, don't you think?"

Lisa walked into her brother's office and up to his secretary. "Is he in?"

"Hi, Lisa. Yes, go on in."

Lisa knocked on his door and entered. "Hey, Philip. I thought since I was close by running some errands I'd stop in and see if you wanted to go to lunch." Lisa knew he had a lunch meeting with an important new client. Cynthia had pointed it out several times at lunch yesterday.

"Sorry, Lisa, no can do, I've got a meeting scheduled." Philip was a few inches taller than she was, with brown hair that had started thinning on top and receding. His gut was beginning to show signs of working behind a desk all day and the fact that he had a habit of eating Reese's peanut-b.u.t.ter cups by the handfuls. He wore gla.s.ses when working or reading which he pushed up to rest on the top of his head while talking to his sister.

Lisa smiled. "Another day then." She turned to go but stopped like she suddenly remembered something. "By the way a patient at the hospital asked me if I knew you. Well, of course, I told him you were my brother and he said to tell you h.e.l.lo."

"Really? Who was it?" He guessed it was someone he probably went to school with. He had been in a lot of clubs and didn't have time to keep in touch with everyone.

"Mario." She watched him freeze. "He didn't tell me his last name. Said you'd remember." The color slowly drained from his face. If she had any doubt at all she wouldn't after seeing his reaction. "Philip? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

'Oh G.o.d, what does he want? After all this time I thought I was rid of them.' "What...what did he say?" His voice was shaky.

"He just asked how you were doing. You know the usual, what you did for a living, if you were married, had kids." Andy had told her not to say he asked where he lived. He thought that would have been a tad too much. Lisa had thought it would make him squirm more but she reluctantly conceded that Andy was probably right.

"Oh...well, I didn't keep in touch with him. He was...he was..." His mouth was stumbling while his mind was trying to come up with something to say. "Into trouble a lot. Hey, uh, do me a favor and don't tell him you've talked to me okay, I wouldn't want him to get any ideas about renewing an acquaintance."

"Philip, you know I don't like to lie." Lisa had her fingers crossed behind her back.

Lisa met Andy at his precinct so they could have lunch together and on the short walk to the diner, he could tell that she was disappointed. "I take it that Philip didn't immediately confess all and beg for forgiveness?"

"No." Lisa grumbled. "I still say we should tap his phones and plant bugs in his office and condo."

"Lisa, I told you last night that was against the law." He chuckled and opened the door of the diner for her. "You've seen a few too many spy movies, I think."

They slid into a booth and grabbed the menus the waitress handed them. "Can I get you something to drink while you decide?" She asked.

"Iced tea please." Lisa said.

"Coffee for me." Andy added.

"I just want him to admit the truth." She propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. "And I believe my sister more than ever after seeing the way he reacted to Mario's name. He turned white as a sheet. I thought for a minute that he was going to pa.s.s out."

"Give him time to think about it, he may panic and admit to it yet." They ordered when the waitress brought their drinks. Lisa asked about his day and they spent the rest of lunch talking about Andy's job. He couldn't remember any of his other girl friends ever being as interested in him and his work before. He enjoyed the intelligent questions Lisa asked. "I think you should have joined the force." His comment caused a frown to appear on his lunch date's face.

"I wanted to, but mom pitched a fit and forbid it. Don't get me wrong, I like being a nurse and I think I'll be a good one. But I really wanted to be a cop." They were walking slowly back to the station, trying to stretch out their time together. "I remember the neighborhood kids playing cops and robbers and I'd sneak out when mom was at work to join them. I was always a cop." Lisa stated proudly. "And I always got my man."

"Did your mom think it was too dangerous?" Their hands brushed as they walked and their fingers automatically laced together. Neither made a move to let go.

"No, she said women shouldn't be doing 'men's jobs' as she called it. She thought I should be doing something like working in an office until I found someone and got married." Lisa explained. "She wasn't crazy about me becoming a nurse but she didn't stop me."

"But you said your mom works. I don't understand."

"She had to work. My father left us when I was a baby. I think she wants to make my life the life she wanted. Or maybe the life she thought she should have. I'm not sure I understand either. I pretty much went along with it until I got a taste of real independence at school, from your sister mostly. I think mom's going to freak when something important comes along and I put my foot down and tell her it's my life not hers."

They stopped in front of the steps leading into the station. "Good for you." They turned to face each other. "Life's too short to try to please everybody all the time. Or something like that, I forget the exact saying."

"So we should do what makes us happy." Lisa stated. "I think I like your philosophy, Mr. Dixon."

"I'm glad you agree, Ms Chandler, because this..." he leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips. "Makes me very happy." He grinned like a little kid as he trotted up the steps two at a time and into the building.

Lisa stood frozen with a matching grin. She finally turned and headed for home. She and Andy had made plans for dinner again that night since she wasn't planning on trying to see Raven until she went back to work tomorrow. Lisa decided that a nice long hot bubble bath was just what the doctor ordered, after she called the nurse's station again to check on her sister's condition.

Raven was an extremely unhappy and cranky captain when the tests were finally finished. She had promised Kris she would be a 'good girl' during them, but had made no such promises about afterwards.

Kris knew her partner and planned on being prepared. She had left the hospital as soon as they had wheeled Raven out of her room. She met John in the parking deck and directed him to the nearest toy store where she purchased the newest game system and a nice variety of games. John set it up when they got back and had just finished making sure he had connected it properly when Raven was brought back to her room.

All Kris had to do was take one look at her companion and she knew that some of the scowl on her face was due to the pain that she was in but tried to play down for Kris' peace of mind.

"Hey, boss." John knew Raven was about one step away from exploding. He also knew that she would kick herself if she lost control that badly in front of Kris, so he distracted her. "You should have seen Colonel 'The Kid' Albright today. He decided to teach the beginners boxing cla.s.s since Tom wasn't there." John sat down and rested his arms across the bedside table. "Do you remember the new recruit by the name of Tippi?"

Raven was caught up in his good mood and nodded her head. She began to feel better as the pain seemed to subside. She wasn't sure if it was because she wasn't being poked, prodded, x-rayed or stabbed anymore or because of the company. She put her money on the latter.

John described the girl for Kris' benefit. "The top of her head would probably come up to your chin and she probably weights maybe 75 pounds wringing wet. She's standing there in the ring with gloves on that are almost bigger than she is and Albright joins her, all the while explaining different techniques to the cla.s.s. Then he starts dancing around bobbing back and forth, in and out showing them what he was explaining." He paused to take a breath and to try to keep his laughter under control as by now both Raven and Kris were starting to chuckle at his amus.e.m.e.nt. "Anyway, he tells her to throw a punch at his face so he can demonstrate how to block and throw a counter punch. While he was busy showing off all his fancy footwork he forgot to block it." John was laughing and gasping for breath. "He was out before he hit the mat. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. And I swear you could almost see the stars and little birds circling his head like in a cartoon."

Raven was laughing so hard that she had to hold her middle and curl up on her side. Kris had tears running down her cheeks she was laughing so hard but she rubbed her partners back trying to help with the pain that she knew Raven was causing herself.

"Sorry." John managed to say once he finally caught his breath. "I guess I should have waited to tell that." He wiped the moisture from his eyes.

"No." Raven straightened out and Kris put another pillow behind her head. "That was great. I needed that."

"Are you sure you're okay?" John asked.

"Yeah." Raven smiled. "What happened after?"

"We all just stood there for a minute until Tippi broke the silence. 'He told me to hit him.' She shrugged her shoulders like what else could I do so we shrugged ours too, then we hauled him to the nurse in medical. He came to after she set his nose."

"She broke his nose? Wow, she must have some kinda punch for a little thing." Kris was trying not to break down again; she didn't want to chance Raven doing any real damage to herself.

Raven grinned. "Is he planning on stopping by tonight?"

"I think so." John replied. "Why?"

Her grin turned mischievous and she wiggled her eyebrows. "Ow, I forgot about my st.i.tches." She grumbled; grabbing her forehead.

"You've got a plan?" John leaned closer, well aware that she could play a devious practical joke after being on the receiving end of a few.

"Yep. Call and find out when he's coming." She asked John. "Kris, we need bandages and something like that black goop baseball players put under their eyes. You know what I'm taking about?"

"Yeah." Kris said, catching on. "Something that we can wipe off that won't stain skin."

Not finding any suitable black goop at the hospital, John left in search of a sporting goods store. Kris was receiving expert instructions from one of the nurses in applying bandages to a broken nose. Kris had forgotten about the surprise that she had engineered for Raven until her partner had complained about not having anything to do. She had left Raven happily playing Tomb Raider.

"You have a devious mind, my friend." Sharon stated. She and Granny had gotten to the hospital before John made it back and Kris had filled them in on the plan. They both wanted in on the joke after being a.s.sured that the colonel did indeed have a sense of humor.

All five partic.i.p.ants with make-up and bandages in place took their pre-planned positions when their early warning system, which consisted of the nurse's station nearest the elevators alerting the nurse's station directly across from Raven's room, who in turn signaled John, that Albright was headed their way.

As Albright entered the room he was greeted by five people that were hiding behind five sections of newspaper. Knowing John would have gleefully spread the story of his boxing debacle; he crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. "All right, let's get this over with." He waited for their amusing banter at his expense. After all he had suffered through them all afternoon and he was willing to bet that this crew couldn't come up with anything new.

"Hey, Colonel. What's new?" Raven stated, which was the signal for everyone to lower their papers at the same time.

He found himself staring at five very exaggerated racc.o.o.n faces complete with white gauze covering their noses. "Oh very funny. I'm never gonna live this down, am I?"

"I've heard of someone having a gla.s.s jaw before, but this is the first I've heard of a gla.s.s nose." Granny teased.

"I heard that she was so small that she had to use a chair to even reach your nose." Sharon added.

"Great, I'm surrounded by wanna be comedians." He hung his head and sighed.

Thursday afternoon after Lisa finished her shift she headed for her sister's room. She paced up and down the corridor in front of the door, reluctant to enter. 'What if she doesn't want to hear me out? I wouldn't blame her. The first time I see her in ten years and what do I do? I have to go and kick her when she's down.'