Making Strides (part 3 of 5)
by Tonya Muir
 

(disclaimers and random ramblings in part 1)

Denver International Airport was huge and artistic, filled with yuppy images to match the yuppy attitude of the young city's population.  They arrived in terminal C, welcomed by a soothing recorded voice and pictures of the mountains on every available wall space.  The tram to take them to baggage claim was sunken into an ornately carved marble pit which also held a planter with water fountains and beautiful lush foliage.  The floor was covered in marble tiling and every few blocks of the gray stone was embossed with brass fossil shapes.  Molly studied these intently as she held her mother's hand and bounced from tile to tile.

"When is their flight coming in?" Rachel asked for at least the tenth time.  Lacey sighed, frustrated both with holiday traveling and the stress of their situation.

"Another forty minutes.  Let's jump on the tram and go to terminal B ... that's where they're coming in."

"Have you been to this airport before?" the blonde woman asked, following her lover through the throng of people towards the escalators.

"Couple of times.  Was at the old airport, too.  This is a vast improvement."

"Isn't this the one that was so late in opening because of baggage problems?"

"Yeah," Lacey confirmed, turning to lean her back against the side of the escalator as it took them slowly downwards into the marble pit.  She looked at Rachel, her position having them at eye level.  "Something about the software used or the developers.  I was kinda busy at the time, I don't remember."

Rachel grinned, enjoying seeing her lover in the eye without craning her neck.  "Busy?  Doing what?"

Lacey smirked and her ice blue eyes twinkled slightly, letting Rachel know that she didn't really want to say what she'd been doing in such a public place.  Odds on it had been illegal and deadly.

"Mama, look at the water," Molly interrupted, tugging at Rachel's sleeve and pointing into the planter.

"That's pretty, sweetie," Rachel acknowledged then turned back to Lacey.  "Don't you think they went a bit overboard?  Does an airport need to look like a botanical garden?"

The dark-haired woman shrugged, turned her attention back in front of her.  "I don't pay Colorado state tax."

The man in front of her glanced over and grinned.  "I do.  And they did go overboard," he looked to Rachel, smiling at her.

"How late was it in opening?" the blonde asked curiously and Lacey smiled.  Rachel could start a conversation with a fire hydrant if she were so inclined.  It didn't surprise her at all that the young woman was being congenial to a total stranger in an airport while they were running from killers.

The man shrugged.  "I don't remember exactly.  They kept pushing it back but the worst part was all of the vendors and stores in the old airport lost money because they'd started their leases here but it wasn't open yet."

Rachel grimaced.

"Yeah.  It was a lot of bad press for transportation and commerce."

"But it's okay now?" Rachel suggested, gesturing around them at the swarms of people as they stepped off the escalator and lined up at the tram doors.

"Sure.  An airport's an airport, right?"  He offered them a last smile before stepping away towards a group of business types.

"Nice man," Rachel said softly and got a raised eyebrow for her comment.  She laughed.

"Mama?  Can I sit with Lacey on the way back?" Molly piped up, gripping Rachel's hand with both of hers while she swiveled around wide eyed and took in the scenery.  This was her first trip anywhere and she'd been amazed from the first moment they'd stepped into the airport in New York.

Lacey hadn't been able to get three seats together so Rachel and Molly had sat in first class while the dark-haired woman made do with a middle seat in coach.  The experience had left Lacey uncomfortable and cranky.

"I think that's a good idea.  Maybe she'll have a better attitude, then," Rachel poked gently.

"I wanted you two to have the nice seats," Lacey grumbled, looking away and not finding any humor in her young lover's antagonizing.

"Yeah, but, baby, it doesn't do any good when you're so gracious as to offer us those seats and then you turn into a hag because you hated your seat.  Next time, you get the good seats with Molly and I'll sit with my knees in my chin."

Lacey conceded the point with a bashful grin.  She really was being difficult and it didn't make sense to offer up the first class position and then make the young woman feel guilty about taking them.  "Sorry," she murmured, reaching out to squeeze Rachel's elbow.  "I'll be good."

The young blonde was mildly surprised at how quickly her partner gave in but did her best not to show it.  Instead she simply smiled warmly as they made their way into the tram where they were fortunate enough to be packed like sardines.

Rico and Mary were only twenty minutes late in arriving and appeared to have survived the trip with no difficulties.  The group made their way to baggage claim, loading onto the tram once again.

The huge luggage area was completely open, without anyone checking tickets or stopping people from leaving with incorrect bags.  That struck Rachel as unusual given the higher security of most airports these days.

The next thing she noticed was the baggage carousel against the wall which had tall slotted compartments that moved quietly through the room.  She eyed it, tilting her head.

"Mama?  What's that for?" Molly asked.

"I have no idea," Rachel said honestly.

Her lover chuckled.  "It's for skis.  A lot of people bring skis with them here."

"Enough that they have a special rack?"

"It's mostly full, isn't it?"

Rachel conceded, realizing that nearly every compartment was filled with a tall canvas bag.  She turned away, the novelty having worn off.  "Where will Karma come out?"

They put the dog on Rico's flight, deciding it would be easier to wait with her on that end than to have her arrive here and wait an hour for Rico and Mary's flight.

"Over here, I think," Rico tilted his head towards an enclosed office in the wall as the ski carousel.  "There, look."

Sure enough, once they'd opened the door they saw the familiar tan colored plastid crate with live animal stickers all over it.

"Pooch," Rachel said softly and Karma started emitting a series of howls and woos.

"Yours, I take it," the woman behind the counter smiled.  "Do you have your claim tickets?"

Rico produced the requested documents while Rachel brought Karma out and checked her over.

"Was it okay, girl?  Were you scared?"

"Oh yeah," Lacey scoffed, looking at her lover and the little girl as they fawned over Karma.  "She looks petrified, Raich."  The only thing the dog seemed concerned about was who to lick first and how much drool she should impose on them.

It seemed to take forever to collect the rest of their baggage and get the rental car settled.  Finally, they were on their way out of the airport parking lot.  Molly turned in her seat to watch the complex shrink behind them.  "It looks funny.  Like it could be in X Files," she commented.

She got no argument from anyone in the car.  The structure looked like a series of glowing white tents mashed together on the plains, rising from darkness to glowing peaks.

"I think it's supposed to look like the mountains," Rico offered.

It was as good an explanation as any and they let it go at that.

Lacey had an old associate who owned a condo in Breckenridge.  With a bit of nagging and a great sum of money, she'd managed to talk him into rescinding the reservations already holding the place and opened it for Lacey's use.  The dark woman felt a little bad that she'd ruined someone else's Christmas until her acquaintance assured her that it was a rich business man and his mistress who'd decided on France instead.

The Budget car rental people had been kind enough to give her a map and directions along with the keys to the minivan they now occupied.  So Lacey was able to navigate onto I-70 which wrapped its way lazily around the northern borders of downtown Denver before heading straight into the mountains.  Through the darkness they could only see silver moon bouncing off snow capped peaks.  Rachel observed them silently from her position in the front passenger seat.  She wasn't sure she'd ever seen anything more beautiful.

The condo was freezing and dark when they pushed open the front door and stepped inside.  Lacey went first, turning on lights and checking each room.  She hadn't been subtle about their departure, using their own names for all of the reservations.  She wanted to draw the enemy out more than she wanted to hide.

The place was empty and they all came in carrying bags and staking out rooms.  There were three bedrooms and two pull out couches.   Rachel and Lacey settled downstairs where there were two bedrooms side by side so they could be by Molly.  That left Rico and Mary in the bedroom upstairs close to the kitchen.

While her lover unpacked, Lacey turned up the heat and started a fire.  Then she set a kettle to boiling for hot chocolate.  Soon they were all seated in the living room, dressed warmly, watching a roaring fire in the fireplace.

"I think we should ski while we're here," Lacey announced.  "What's the point of coming to Colorado and not skiing?"

"I'm sure it can be done, Lace," her partner said softly, snuggling deeper into the warm arms around her.

"Sure, but why would you want to?" the dark woman grinned, raising an eyebrow to Rico to encourage him into joining her side.

"I think I'd try snowboarding," the young man smiled, jumping in and trying to bring Mary with him.  "What about you?  You up for it?"

"Sure," Mary shrugged, smiling at Lacey's eager look.

"Molly?" Lacey asked, she felt the body she held tense and her grin faded.  She planted a kiss at Rachel's ear.

"I'd love to!" the little girl enthused.  "I've seen it on television.  It doesn't look so hard ... just go over the jumps and tuck up," she bounced to her feet to show by example what she had seen.

Rachel shook her head slowly, wanting to deny the activity, being afraid to death of it herself, but not wanting to influence her daughter.  "Not me.  You guys go ahead."

"C'mon, baby," Lacey said softly.  "We'll all go tomorrow, it'll be fun.  We can rent the equipment."

Rachel turned slightly in her lover's arms so they could see each other's eyes.  "I can't," she whispered.  "Please?"

The dark woman saw fear there and it surprised her.  As well as she knew this young woman and as much as they'd been through, she'd only seen genuine fear a few times.  One of them had been just last night when they'd talked about Bernie's murderers, one had been after the incident with the car a few days ago, and the other was right now.  She hadn't ever wanted to ease someone's dread as much as she did right now.  She hated most of all that she'd caused every one of her lover's fears.  "Okay," Lacey soothed gently, rubbing her hand along the young blonde's back, feeling the muscles relax.  "Okay, no skiing for Raich.  Would you mind going with us?  Staying in the lodge?"

"That would be okay," she agreed softly, kissing Lacey on the lips before leaning in to bury her face in the warmth of her neck.  "Take care of our little girl," she whispered for only Lacey's ears.

It wasn't until later when they were all in bed that Lacey had a chance to quiz her smaller partner.  Rachel was securely wrapped around her lover, face in neck, arm and leg across strong body.  "Baby?" Lacey started softly.

"Hmm?" Rachel didn't move but she was awake and not even really sleepy.  She could hear Karma trotting up and down the hardwood floor hallways looking for trouble or mischief.  The vet in New York had warned that Karma may need some extra water and food at this altitude and climate.  Apparently altitude sickness was pretty common to both humans and animals.

"Why don't you want to ski?"

"Mmm," she rolled to her back, resting her head in the crook of Lacey's shoulder and entwining her fingers with the long ones that stroked her belly.  "It's always frightened me.  How they show all the horrible accidents and you hear about people being paralyzed or getting killed.  I've never wanted to ski, going that fast downhill on a slick surface never appealed to me."

"But you'll ride a twelve hundred pound horse at thirty miles an hour surrounded by other horses.  That's probably more dangerous," her lover pointed out quietly.

"Maybe.  But I can control that horse and my riding controls the situation, whether I'm on the rail or off, in the pack or out.  It doesn't worry me."

"Once you learn to ski, you can control your speed and direction.  It's the same thing, you have to learn how to do it."

"I don't want to," Rachel said firmly, tilting her head to see Lacey's dark profile.  "I know it's silly but I'm afraid.  And over ninety percent of trying something new is confidence.  I don't have the confidence to do it and my fear will just get me hurt.  No thanks."

"You don't want Molly too, either?" Lacey asked carefully, knowing the answer to the question.  As much as they shared in the raising of the little girl, when it came down to it, Rachel was her mother.  And if Rachel made a decision about Molly or her future, Lacey felt she had no choice but to abide by it.

Rachel sighed, rolled onto her stomach so she could rest her chin on the hand she'd splayed above Lacey's breast.  "I don't want her to, no.  But it's not my choice to make.  She's old enough to want to try things and learn things, I can't stand in her way.  It just frightens me.  I don't want her to live in fear of the things I do.  She has more opportunities and more available to her than I ever did.  I think you should take her skiing.  Besides, she's really excited about it now, we can't say no after promising."

"Raich, honey ... I," Lacey was recalling her lover's tenseness when she'd asked Molly to go.  "I had no right to ask her without talking to you first.  I'm sorry.  If I'd known and not asked, we wouldn't be in a corner."

Rachel's brow wrinkled, Lacey could just make it out by the moonlight coming in from the window across the room.  "Of course you had a right.  I'm not the veto committee.  Questions and activities don't have to be run by me first."

"She's your daughter," Lacey said softly.

"Ah.  Well, let me tell you something, crony.  I think of her as our daughter.  Hush-" she laid her fingers on the dark woman's lips when she felt her chest move with an intake of breath.  "Before she came here, I raised her for two years and then went to prison.  Right?" Lacey nodded mutely, her lips still covered by soft fingers.  "And then I saw her once a month and a few weeks in the summer until you and I were together.  You have had as much influence on raising her as I have.  You're as much her mother, really, as I am.  I gave birth to her but she doesn't remember much of me before we were us.  So you have every right to make decisions and plan events.  Don't feel like you need my approval to do things with your little girl."

The room was achingly silent for many long moments.  Rachel was afraid she'd gone too far, pushed too hard.  Maybe telling a woman who was always on the verge of backing away that she was a mother figure wasn't a good idea.  Perhaps someone who's already feeling trapped doesn't really need to hear the gate close with the clang of commitment.

The young blonde was ready to apologize and withdraw her words when the arms around her tightened and lifted, settling her small body squarely on top of the length of her lover.

"When I went to the school last week and talked to the principal ... I thought of her as mine.  It was the first time I had, really.  I liked it.  And that other little girl asked Molly if I was her other mother," she laughed softly.  "Molly looked to me to see if I'd accept her saying yes.  I did.  I hadn't wanted to, I thought it was reserved for you and the bond you share with her.  But to hear her agree that I was her other mother ... it was a good feeling."

Lacey sighed, kissed Rachel gently on the nose.  "I know I've been difficult lately, pushing you away then pulling you close.  Telling you I can't live without you and then yelling at you that I need to be alone.  "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," the blonde whispered.  "I understand it's hard.  Believe it or not, it was kind of hard for me at first, too.  I was used to having my own time and doing my own thing and then I suddenly had to plan my schedule around having Molly.  I think I resented that at first because I wasn't used to it.  But now ... I wouldn't change it for anything.  It must have been worse for you because Molly wasn't even yours."

"It wasn't so hard, then.  I was so head over heels, it didn't matter.  I was glad to have you both there even though I was struggling to find my own place and change my world to fit yours.  It wasn't until the threats and until Bernard's death that it started to overwhelm me.  I don't think it struck me until then that I was responsible for your safety and that simply being with me jeopardized it."

Rachel nodded slowly.  It had appeared that way.  Everything had been going very well until the last month or so.  It was then that Lacey had become incredibly moody and stand-offish.  Before had been amazingly comfortable and happy.  "I love you."

Lacey smiled, leaned her head forward to touch her lips to her lover's.  She lingered there in a warm kiss that became more sensual with each passing moment.  "I love you too ... even when I'm being a bitch," she whispered, going back for more and nibbling gently and Rachel's chin.

The young blonde grinned and spread her legs so her knees fell on either side of her lover's thighs.  She pressed her pelvis into Lacey's.  It didn't take long for gentle exploration to turn into tender passion.  In no time at all, Lacey had stripped her companion of her sleep clothes and was covering the smaller body with her own lankier form.

Rachel reached down, shifting closer to the foot of the bed so she could pull her lover's flannel pants off and toss them on the floor.  From there she moved lower, Lacey watching her silently with a raised eyebrow as the dark woman supported her own weight on hands and knees.

Rachel grinned, running her hands up smooth thighs and settling her face between her partner's legs.  She gently cupped Lacey's hipbones and pulled her down until she bumped her nose on crisp dark curls.  Then she snaked her tongue out to touch the moistness there.

Lacey groaned, relaxing into the gentle searching of tongue and lips.  She shifted her weight back so her hands were now at her lover's knees and her face and breasts raised to the ceiling.

Rachel was a gentle lover.  That was one of the first things Lacey had discovered about her young partner.  She was tender with fingers and tongue, using teeth at just the right times, showing a great amount of skill and concentration.  She seemed to study the woman before her and store knowledge away as if learning from a book and taking notes.  She was able to discern the dark woman's moods and decide what she most wanted.  Sometimes Lacey needed fast and aggressive, other times warm and sensuous.  Tonight was one of the latter.

Lacey climbed slowly, watching the ceiling, rocking her hips into the mouth below her, relishing in the warmth from the body laid out beneath hers.  Everything was about this.  All the frustration and anger and rage boiled down to this small blonde woman and how she made her feel.  It was about being wanted and needed.  It was about being loved today as every other day, despite moods or problems or outside forces.  It was about loving someone so much, you only wanted to please them and fill them and honor them with your body.

Lacey felt this reverence in each touch and kiss.  She felt it in the way Rachel ran small warm hands over her thighs and up her abdomen to cup full breasts and achingly taut nipples.  It was more than Lacey could stand to sit there so she broke away to muted protests and groping hands only to turn around and lower herself again.  Lacey spread her lover's legs and found her treasure there while Rachel's tongue began its duty again.

They rose together, knowing each other's bodies well and bringing the other to the edge and beyond.  They convulsed against each other, clenching muscles spasming around slick tongues, fingers coated in sweet smelling nectar.  Then Lacey relaxed her body, feeling Rachel turn her head and breathe warm air on the inside of her thigh.  The small blonde wrapped her arms up and around the hips above her, making it quite clear she wanted Lacey to stay where she was for a moment.

"I don't deserve this," the blonde said at last, the air of her words brushing against Lacey's thigh and making the dark woman twitch.  "I don't deserve you."

Lacey pulled away so she could turn and gather the woman in her arms.  They exchanged warm flavored kisses for several moments until Lacey pressed her face into Rachel's neck.

"You deserve more.  I just can't give it to you," she assured her lover gently.  "But I'll give you everything I can.  All of me belongs to you."

"I like the way you see me," Rachel grinned softly.  "No one has ever looked at me like you do.  No one has ever loved me knowing what I've done and how I've screwed up."  A hand floated to her scarred abdomen out of reflex.

Lacey slid her hand down as well to stroke the rough skin she found there.  "I could say the same of you, love.  No one else has ever tried to get past the walls to see the person behind them.  You barged right through."

The blonde smiled, fingering the long dark hair beneath her touch.  "I always loved a challenge."

Lacey snorted her laugh, puffing air against Rachel's neck.

"Get some sleep.  You have some skiing to do tomorrow," Rachel murmured, feeling herself grow sleepy now that she was sated and warm.

"Hold on," Lacey disentangled herself long enough to pull her flannel pants back on and to gently dress her lover as well.  "Just in case we have middle of the night visitors," she mumbled softly, crawling back into her warm position and wrapping the smaller woman in arms and blankets.

"Good idea," Rachel sighed.  "Love you."

"You too, baby."

Silence and darkness shrouded them as each woman's breath evened in sleep.

XXXXX

The first day on the slopes was a success all the way around.  Lacey set up morning lessons for Rico and Molly, while she and Mary did a little skiing together.

Mary was relieved to have something in common with the dark woman as their skills were fairly evenly matched.  So they rode the chair up together over and over throughout the morning, always veering towards the lesson groups on the way down so they could pass Rico learning to snowboard and Molly learning to ski.

The young girl really was showing an aptitude for it and her face lit up in a grin every time she saw Lacey pass.  She'd holler and wave a pink mittened hand.  Lacey returned the wave.

"She really loves you," Mary observed quietly as they loaded onto the chair again and started the ride up.  The child's blue eyes watched them ascend until the instructor called her attention back with patience borne of giving young children lessons day after day.

"What's not to love?" Lacey joked, resituating her poles into her right hand so she could hold the lift with her left.  She noticed her young companion wasn't smiling.  "That was a joke, Mary."

Mary grinned sheepishly, glancing to the dark woman.  "Not really.  It's true.  Everyone loves you."

The older woman chuckled dryly and shook her head.  "Evidently not or I wouldn't have this problem, huh?" she paused, squinted into the bright sunlight.  "No.  I have some loyal friends, a wonderful lover, and a beautiful child.  I'm lucky," she shrugged.  "But I have my share of enemies and I can't ever forget that or someone's likely to get hurt."

Mary was silent for a really long time, watching the brightly colored hats of skiers below them.  Finally, she cleared her throat.  "I don't understand how Rico and you did ... what you did.  I can't see it."

The dark woman's profile hardened as she thought about this.  She looked up the mountain and back down before she responded.  "Not much to understand.  We each needed a family, didn't have one of our own, and that's what Vinnie offered us.  It's hard to turn that down."

"Are you ... um ... sorry to have left it?" Mary ventured.  She'd never said more than three sentences to this woman before today yet here she was prying.  She figured she deserved to be pushed off the lift at any moment so she better get her questions in while she could.

"No," Lacey didn't hesitate.  She glanced to Mary and saw how tense she looked.  "I won't bite," she grinned, flashing even white teeth which reflected the sun's mid day rays.

Mary laughed nervously, glanced to her companion before looking away.  "Actually I was envisioning a tumble off the lift."

The darker woman laughed and arched one eyebrow.  "Now that's not a bad idea."  Mary tensed.  "I'm kidding," she said gently.  "Kidding.  I'm glad you're here with us.  It'll be good to get to know you better."

Mary nodded quietly and turned to give the other woman a hesitant smile.  It was getting easier to be with them and to understand this dark woman and her passions.  Lacey Montgomery was not a woman who did things half-heartedly, she had a driving need to give two hundred percent of herself to family and friends.  Her loyalty could never be questioned and it was that trait that had probably led her to the top of Vinnie's organization.

They slid off the chair together, coming down the small ramp and veering to the right where they settled sunglasses and poles before glancing at each other.

"Ready?" Mary asked.  Her only response was a toothy grin and a flip of black hair before Lacey was on her way.

XXXXX

Rachel, for her part, entertained herself by sitting at an outside table and reading the Denver Post.  From her position she could see both of the lessons and catch an occasional glimpse of Lacey and Mary as they made their way to the chair lift from the slopes.  She sipped her coffee , barely feeling the heat of it through the Styrofoam cup and her insulated mittens, but it warmed her belly nicely enough.  She was content to spend the day here, enjoying the blinding sunshine and the smell of snow and wool.  Karma was tied to the table and curled happily around her owner's legs, occasionally rising to stretch and solicit praise from passers-by.

She'd never been at this altitude and though it was cold out, the sun was so bright it warmed her cheeks and the top of her head.  Some of the skiers said it also made the slopes a little icy but that the snow was pretty good anyway for the amount of traffic on it.  Rachel took them at their words and simply flipped to the sports section where she read about how Broncos crazed the entire state seemed to be.  That infatuation was further evidenced by the many jackets, knit caps, and scarves that bore the emblem of a horse's head in a field of orange and blue.  Personally, the young blonde thought orange and blue were pretty stupid colors for a professional football team but she wisely kept that observation to herself.

While she was deep into reading about the Broncos' mascot Thunder and the young Arabian stallion's unfortunate injury last season, Karma jumped to her feet and started wooing.  Rachel looked up to see her dark-haired lover tromping over in heavy plastic boots.  She pushed her sunglasses up to perch on her head and revealed ice blue eyes twinkling with good humor.

She sat down heavily on the bench next to Rachel.  "Hey, gorgeous.  A pretty lady like you shouldn't be here all alone.  Interested in grabbin' a beer later?"

Rachel grinned and leaned in to press warm lips to Lacey's wind chilled cheek.  "Mmmm ... thanks for the offer but I'm kinda involved with someone."

Lacey raised a dark eyebrow in humor.  "Yeah?  Well then you shouldn't go kissing strangers who sit down next to you."

"I'll take my chances."

Lacey chuckled.  "You will, huh?"

"Mhmm," Rachel kissed her again, targeting her lips this time and lingering there.

"People are staring," Lacey murmured.

"Let 'em stare," Rachel replied, kissing her lover again.

"You'd think they'd never seen women kiss before."

Rachel laughed gently.  "Most of them probably haven't, love."

"We could give them a real show, then," Lacey growled, scooting closer.  Rachel put her hands up to stop her.

"Easy there, crony.  Not interested in being a floor show but thanks anyway."

"Hmph," Lacey pretended to be put off as she slid back slightly on the bench and folded her arms on the table.

"Where's the rest of the crew?" Rachel asked, ignoring the dark woman's mock sulking.

Lacey grinned, her little acts never worked on Rachel.  "The two lesson goers are finishing up by noon.  Mary went over to watch their last trip down.  Then we'll be ready for some food.  How are you doing?"

"Great!" Rachel smiled, her eyes showing her enthusiasm.  "It's beautiful here.  I've never seen so much snow in my life.  Amazing how many people participate in this sport."

Lacey nodded slowly.  "Didja see anyone you recognize?"

The young blonde paused to think about that and shook her head.  "No.  Should I have?"

"I wouldn't expect them so soon but they'll find us.  Maybe tomorrow or the next day."

"Should I be worried?" Rachel asked softly, her previous good humor having all but disappeared.

"Not here, I wouldn't think.  Too many people, way too public," Lacey assured her lover.  "C'mon.  There's everyone now ... let's go get some grub."

XXXXX

That night an exhausted and content Molly crawled into bed with the two women.  Karma joined them, slinking to the end of the mattress where she curled into a ball and hoped no one would notice and kick her off.

Lacey rolled over to toss a long arm over her lover and the child between them.  Molly yawned, snuggling deeper into the covers.

"Did you have fun today, baby?" Rachel asked sleepily.

The child nodded her response.

"I'm glad," Lacey whispered softly, leaning in to kiss the child's temple.  "I did, too.  Thank you for going skiing with me."

Molly grinned and rolled to her left where she could snuggle closer to the dark woman.  "Thank you," she murmured.  "Love you."

"You too," Lacey hugged the child to her, feeling her drift off immediately.  Then she looked up and met twinkling green eyes.

Rachel had watched the four of them all afternoon take to the slopes again and again.  Molly had caught on very quickly, as most kids do, enabling her to go on the same slopes as Lacey.  She'd treasured the time spent with the tall dark woman.  It was a day well spent healing wounds and solidifying relationships.

Dinner had been a joyous affair at the condo where they'd barbecued out and had a good time telling of the day's adventures and planning more to come.  Even Mary had participated, making a dessert of berries and crumb cake and telling some of the things she'd seen throughout the day.

Here, in the darkness of the night, Lacey and Rachel lay silently wrapped around the child.

"Thank you for letting her go," Lacey whispered at last.  "It felt good.  Like all that stuff I said last week never happened."

"You don't have to thank me, Lace," Rachel whispered, her breath blowing around the fine wisps of her daughter's hair.  "It was the best thing for both of you.  I doubt she even remembers what was said."

"I hope not," the dark woman agreed softly.

XXXXX

They'd debated what to do for the day over breakfast.  There were a lot of small shops bordering the main street in Breckenridge, barely even a block from the bottom of the slopes.  Also, a shuttle would take them over to Keystone or Arapahoe Basin if they were so inclined.  In the end, they settled for Breckenridge again, deciding that the closeness to both the condo and the shops would enable Rachel to do some wandering around while the others skied.

Rachel watched her companions strap on skis and snowboard while she stood in her warm parka holding onto Karma's leash.  The young dog bounced with excitement, the snow and climate suiting her heritage well.

"Okay," Lacey announced.  "I think we're ready.  You gonna hit the shops?"

Rachel nodded as the dark-haired woman skied closer.  "That was my plan," she smiled gently, straightening her lover's bangs with fondness and flipping the long dark braid back over her shoulder to fall between her shoulder blades.

"Don't go hog wild on us," Lacey grinned.  "We have to fit everything on the plane."

"Ha ha," Rachel said softly.

"Be careful," the dark woman's ice gaze turned somber.  "Look for any of those familiar faces.  Stay in crowds.  Okay?"

Lacey was more than a little worried about splitting up today though she'd no reason to be.  Everything had gone smoothly thus far and they had no indication that they were being followed here.  But she believed in being careful, especially when it came to the lives of those she loved.

"I'll be fine.  You guys are the ones who should be careful."  Rachel shivered at the thought of flying down the icy slopes.  "Go on.  I'll meet you back here by lunch time."

Rachel wandered up and down the street slowly, visiting all kinds of stores that offered everything from sterling silver jewelry to cheap souvenir T-shirts.  She tied Karma outside of the stores she ventured into and kept her eyes open and scanning for any sign of trouble.  It wasn't until she was headed back towards the bottom of the runs with several small packages that she noticed a familiar face for a split second.  Then he was gone.  Her heart froze.  Had she imagined he was there?  Was she so keyed up that she was seeing danger where there wasn't any?

She hurried back to the slopes to see Lacey and the others already seated around a large table on the outdoor patio.  The dark woman saw her lover approaching and patted the bench next to her.

"There you are," she said warmly.  "I got you a bowl of chili and some bread.  Is that okay?"  The words nearly froze in her mouth as she saw the look on Rachel's face.  She rose to her feet to greet the younger woman and guide her away from the others.

"What is it, baby?" she asked softly, stroking Rachel's coat ensconced arm with sure strokes of her large hand.

"I think I recognized someone from the pictures."

Lacey's breath caught briefly before she released it.  Well, this was why they were here.  "You think?"

"I'm not sure.  I just got a glimpse and when I looked back he was gone.  It wasn't one of the ones I saw in New York, it was just one of the pictures."

"Okay, relax, gorgeous," Lacey soothed.  "We'll be okay.  We're all here together.  Rico and I are ready for this.  Come sit down and act like everything's okay."

"I'm worried."

"I know," Lacey assured her, taking the bags and Karma's leash from her hands and tugging her gently to the table.  "It's okay," she whispered again before urging the blonde to sit.

Rachel ate her chili automatically, glancing around the room and barely listening to the conversation at the table.  The only thing that kept her grounded was Lacey's large hand splayed on her thigh.  Her dark lover would make sure everything worked out, of that she was certain.  She choked down the meat and beans in relative silence.

Lacey toyed with the idea of calling it a day and packing everyone away but then she decided that they weren't going to get much more public than the slopes in Breckenridge on Christmas week, so she devised a slightly different plan.  Rico and Lacey would alternate sitting on the patio with Rachel.  That way no one was on the slopes unaccompanied and no one was waiting unaccompanied.  She felt reasonably certain that they would be safe and she and Molly set off for the first lift ride up of the afternoon, the small girl chatting away oblivious to the tension in the air.

XXXXX

It was nearly time to wrap up for the day when Lacey and Molly got off the lift and slid to a stop at the bottom of the ramp.  Lacey checked the girl over to make sure she was bundled up and her goggles and helmet were securely in place before she grinned at her.

"Ready?  Last run of the day, then Rico and Mary get one more."

Molly nodded, patted her helmet and started shuffling her skis towards the downwards slope.

Lacey followed her as she zigzagged across the terrain, the child using her slight body weight to navigate her turns, having decided not to be encumbered by poles.  They rounded a corner where a couple was in a heap in the snow and they both slid to a stop.

"Hey," Lacey said, sidestepping up to the jumble of limbs and skis.  "Need a hand?"

"Ugh," a male's voice groaned out as he rolled over, catching his ski on that of his companion.  She yelped in protest.  "Sorry."

"Are you okay?" Lacey popped her bindings so she could step closer and kneel down beside them, attempting to untangle limbs.

"My leg is killing me," the woman whimpered.

Lacey probed the leg in question and grimaced, flashing the woman's companion a worried look.  "You're gonna be okay.  Gimme your poles.  You get your skis off," this she said to the man who was still partially entangled with the woman.

He obliged and popped his bindings, this new freedom allowing him to completely stand and withdraw his skis and poles from the pile of his partner.  Now she lay alone on the slope, her leg at an odd angle.

Lacey took the poles the man offered her and tenderly straightened the woman's leg, taking off her skis and tossing them aside.

Someone slid to a stop next to them.  "Need the ski patrol?" a young man asked, hopping over on his snowboard.

"Yeah.  Send 'em up with a snowmobile and a basket," Lacey glanced over her shoulder gratefully.  "And the faster the better, temperature's dropping."

It was true enough.  As the sun lowered behind the mountain, it left the snow slopes shrouded in shadow.  Without the bright rays to warm from above anymore, the cold wind whipped around them and whistled through the trees at their side.

"Gotcha!" the young man yelled before hopping around and continuing down the hill at break neck speed.

"You're gonna be all right," Lacey reassured the woman, turning back to her frightened brown eyes.  "It looks like a clean break, we just need to get you off the mountain is all."  She continued her work of lining the leg up between poles.

"Are you going to set it?" the man asked incredulously.

The dark woman shook her head.  "I'll leave that to the experts.  I'm just trying to make it immobile.  No need to damage it any more, huh?"  She looked back to the woman.  "How ya doin'?"

"Cold," she mumbled.

"Warm her up.  Don't let her go into shock," Lacey commanded the young man.  He clasped the woman's hands in his and chafed them, breathing warm air onto them.

"L-lacey?" Molly whispered, sidestepping closer.

"I'm sorry, baby," Lacey looked over immediately, pulling the girl to her and embracing her.  She'd completely forgotten the child was right there with her.  "Are you okay?"

She nodded slowly, blue eyes round behind the protective goggles.  She watched the woman quietly.

"Molly, honey, this is ..." she trailed off, hoping the other two would catch on.

"Ah.  Bob," he offered his hand to Lacey who shook it firmly. "And my wife Janet."

"I'm Lacey.  This is Molly," Lacey finished the introductions.  "Honey, Janet's going to be fine.  She took a bad fall and she broke her leg, that's all.  The doctors will fix it up."  She had her arms wrapped around the little girl still and felt her tremors.  "Are you cold?"

"Mmmhmm," she acknowledged.

"Tell you what.  You remember this slope?  Just goes around this bend and then one other before it heads straight to the bottom?"

Molly nodded.  They'd spent most of their day on this run and she'd managed to navigate it incredibly well.

"Can you do it by yourself?  Go straight down to your mom and Rico and wait for me there?" Lacey was anxious to get the child down to the bottom and warm.  Molly was a little upset about seeing the injury and didn't need to be here when the ski patrol showed up.

Molly nodded again, hugging Lacey close and placing a sloppy kiss on her cheek.

"Good girl," the dark woman squeezed back before releasing her and checking helmet and goggles.  "Go on now and be careful.  I love you."

"Love you," Molly hugged her again.  "Bye," she waved shyly to the couple on the snow before meeting Lacey's blue gaze with her own sapphire eyes.  "I'll tell Mama you'll be right down."

"Careful," Lacey hollered after her, watching her turn and head down the slope and around the bend before she focused her attention back to the people in front of her.  "They should be here soon," she assured them.

The man nodded, looking to his wife.  He slid down in the snow next to her and wrapped her warmly in his arms.

"C-cold," she whispered.

The patrol arrived with a roar of the snowmobile engine.  The rider hopped off and trotted over to check out the situation.  Lacey updated him.

They tossed blankets over the prone woman as they examined the leg and completed the field splint for moving her.

"You're going to be fine, Janet," the red coated man assured her.  "We're going to put you in the basket and take you downhill.  Sir, you can ride on the snowmobile."

The two patrolmen settled the young woman in the basket, tucking warm blankets around her.  Lacey smiled and patted her shoulder, then shook the husband's hand before he mounted the snowmobile behind the driver.  With a loud growl, the vehicle started slowly down the hill.

Lacey put her skis back on, clicking her boots into the bindings, then she and the second patrolman finished the run together.

Once at the bottom, she spotted Rachel and the others at the same table where they'd had lunch.  She coasted over to them and then poked her binding release with her pole, stepping out of the skis.

"We stopped to help an injury.  Sorry you missed your last run, guys."

Rico shrugged.

"Where's Molly?" Rachel asked, standing up and beginning to gather the bags around her.  Karma also hopped to her feet, wagging her thick bushy tail.

Lacey stood frozen.  She swore her heart stopped beating before starting again in overtime.  She glanced around.  "I sent her down to be with you guys."

"No, Lace," Rachel said slowly, the first itchings of worry eating at her mind.  "She was with you."

"No, no, no," Lacey spun around, speaking quickly, feeling sick to her stomach.  "She was afraid of the injury and we were over half way down.  I told her to go ahead and come down here to you.  That I'd be along in a minute."

Rachel's eyes were suddenly wide and filled with tears.  "She never came down, Lace," she whispered hoarsely.  "We were watching for you two."

"No!" Lacey yelled angrily.  "God dammit," she reached into one of their bags of belongings and pulled out her shoes.  She quickly replaced her ski boots with the more comfortable footwear and then ran to the ski patrol.  "Stay with Rachel!" she yelled to Rico before disappearing around the corner of the building.

XXXXX
 
It was well past midnight when they called the search off for the night.  The police had been brought in along with volunteers, dogs, and snowmobiles, they'd combed the mountainside but found nothing.  Finally, the sheriff announced it was too dark and cold to continue the search without risking the patrols and volunteers.  They all stood solemnly in the bottom level of the main ski lodge.

"Ms. Wilson, we're at a loss tonight.  We can start again at first light," the sheriff said softly, glancing from the distraught woman in front of him to young Rico at her side.  "You go back to the condo and we'll get you in the morning."

"I can't leave here without her," Rachel mumbled, wiping at her continuously wet cheeks.  "She's so cold up there."

Lacey came in from a side entrance, stomping her numb feet on the floor before stepping closer to her friends.  "Honey, she's not up there," she whispered, touching a hand to Rachel's side.  "I think you need to redirect your investigation," Lacey turned to the sheriff.  "Molly was most likely kidnapped."

"Why do you think that?" he asked, startled.

Lacey glanced around at the many eyes watching her.  She was faced with an odd mixture of people: seasoned officers, teenagers working the slopes, shop owners who'd heard the call for help.  Every last one of them was cold and exhausted from the efforts on the mountainside.  Lacey'd been up there for hours herself, trudging through the drifts and calling the little girl's name.  "We ... uh ... we've gotten threats in the last couple of weeks.  It wouldn't be ... surprising ... if someone had taken her," she stated awkwardly, knowing these people deserved some sort of explanation for all their time and effort but she was unwilling to tell the truth.

"Is there someone investigating the threats?" the sheriff asked slowly, the timbre of his voice slightly aggressive.  This definitely put a new twist on things.

"No.  We were ignoring them," Lacey said softly, unable to meet her lover's eyes, knowing that the younger woman would only see guilt there.  She felt her partner close by, though, the heat of her body warming the dark woman's as well.  It was that gentle support that kept her on her feet talking to these men instead of on her knees begging Rachel's forgiveness.

"Can you come to the station and fill me in?" the grizzly sheriff inquired, looking at the small group that stood before him, lost in their grief.

"Yeah," Lacey whispered, unable to make her voice sound any louder or more commanding.  "Rico, can you take Mary and Rachel back to the condo?  I'll be there as soon as I can."

The young man nodded, taking the blonde's elbow and guiding her gently from the room and down towards a patrol car that had been offered to drive them.  Lacey watched them go, hating herself for letting her lover and the young girl down.

Rachel glanced over her shoulder, her brow wrinkled in confusion, wanting the tall woman to offer a hug or a warm touch.  Something.  Anything.  She'd never felt more alone in her life as she focused in front of her again and followed Rico.

It was an exercise in futility, really, Lacey decided.  Because of the sketchy information she was willing to provide, the sheriff couldn't help at all except to have his people keep an eye out for a girl matching Molly's description.  It wasn't as if Lacey could go into the whole sordid history about her involvement in organized crime and Bernard's death.  She gave him a brief description of the threatening notes and suspecting foul play from a business associate.

The sheriff, normally a gentle back woods kind of guy, grew angrier moment by moment.  At one point he accused Lacey of not wanting to find the girl.  That if she really wanted to locate Molly, she'd come clean with everything.  The words stung the dark woman.  She imagined their biting force had left a red mark on her face.  But she took the blow because she'd deserved it.  She deserved to rot in hell for this transgression.  She simply nodded to the sheriff, thanked him for his help.  She requested quietly that he allow some men to look for abduction evidence the following day and maybe ask some of the remote lift workers if they'd seen a girl fitting Molly's description appear unwilling to be with an adult.

Then the dark woman bade him goodnight and left the small office quietly.  He couldn't possibly have known what she was or the darkness she was capable of as she fairly shuffled from the room her bearing and confidence all but gone.  Ice blue eyes no longer shined with challenge but were dulled with the reality of ultimate defeat.

Whoever had done this was well above the means of this ski town police station, anyway, and had executed their plan seamlessly.  Chances were good that Molly wasn't even in Breckenridge anymore.  Too bad Lacey had no clue where to start looking.

She let herself into the condo silently, turning to close the door with slumped shoulders.  Karma trotted out to meet her, tags jingling merrily in the darkness.  She whimpered.

"Hey girl," Lacey whispered, crumpling to her knees and gathering the beast into a hug.  "It'll be okay.  It has to be," she whispered, allowing herself for the first time to feel the tragedy that had been lurking in her heart.

"Lace?"

The whispered word caught the dark woman's attention and she lifted her face from Karma's soft fur to see her lover leaning quietly against the wall at the end of the hallway.  Lacey stood immediately, wiping angrily at her tears.  She had no right to cry, it was all her fault.  She stepped forward, intent on being strong for her heartbroken partner.

"Hey, baby," the dark-haired woman breathed softly, moving towards the young blonde.  She was met halfway down the hall and wrapped in a fierce hug.  Lacey sighed, part of her had feared Rachel wouldn't even want to be around her.

"No news?"

"No," Lacey confirmed, kissing the top of the blonde head beneath her chin.

"You really think they have her?" Rachel asked, her voice raw from crying.

"I do."

"That's better than being out there alone, right.  They won't hurt her, will they?" She leaned back, her liquid emerald eyes begging for Lacey to agree.  So the dark woman did.

She shook her head.  "I'm sure they won't hurt her.  We'll hear from them."

"They killed Bernie," Rachel whispered.

Lacey swallowed hard, the sound clearly audible to the small woman in her arms.  She bit back her tears.  "If anyone lays one hand on her, I'll kill them," she swore softly.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours before Rico stepped into the hallway and guided them gently into the living room where Mary waited.  Unable to sleep and unwilling to be alone, everyone spent the night in silence there, bathed in the flickering flames of the blazing fire on the west side of the room.

Finally, near dawn, Lacey untangled herself from Rachel's still form and leapt to her feet.  "I'm gonna go for a run," she announced, unable to sit still a moment longer.

"No," Rachel blurted, rising as well.  "Don't go.  Please?"  She had an inexplicable fear that if the tall woman started running, she may not be able to stop.  And Rachel very much needed her right here.

"Raich, honey," Lacey said softly.  "I have to go do something.  I can't handle sitting here."

"You think I can?!" the blonde shouted, amazed.  "Do you think any of us can?  We all lost her, Lace."

"No," the dark woman spun, shaking her head.  "No.  I lost her.  I sent her ahead without me.  I risked her safety for some young couple I didn't even know."

"Lace," Rachel said softly, stepping closer.  This all needed to be aired.  The dark-haired woman had been harboring this guilt since that moment of realization but hadn't voiced it.  "It's not your fault.  We don't blame you."

"I blame me," Lacey shouted.  "God dammit!  Don't you patronize me.  I know you're angry at me.  You should hate me.  Go ahead and yell."

"I don't want to yell at you, baby," Rachel whispered.  "I could never hate you."

"It's my fault," Lacey growled, wanting so badly for someone else to share her hatred.  Wanting one of them, any of them, to yell at her and condemn her.  "I lost her, Raich.  I couldn't protect her as I'd promised.  I didn't love her enough to keep her safe."

"Lacey," Rachel said softly, her heart aching again at this display of anguish in front of her.  "Baby, don't do this."  She couldn't conjure up the blame Lacey wanted.  As much as Rachel needed to point the finger at someone, it wasn't her dark-haired lover.  It was the bastards who'd gotten away with her child.  Lacey had done nothing wrong.  Molly walked to and from the barn every single day at home, brushing the horses for hours.  She walked Karma around the block without an escort and that was twice the distance she'd skied alone today.  She'd only been out of sight for maybe a minute while she made the bend between the two women.  It had been a minute too long.  But there was no blame to lay with Rachel's dark lover.  No matter how much the other woman wanted it.

"Yell at me," she whispered.  "Please?" her tirade was losing steam in the face of her lover's devotion.  "Make me feel like shit."

"You already do," Rachel responded gently, approaching her lover as if she were a frightened animal.  "I love you, Lace.  I know you wouldn't have intentionally put her in danger.  You've gone to such lengths to get us this far."

"Not enough," Lacey whimpered, dropping to her knees.  "Never enough.  I kept Vinnie alive for a decade or more and I can't keep the two of you safe for even a year."

Rico and Mary stared from the side of the room, not wanting to see the dark woman's fall but unable to avert their gaze from the tragedy before them.  Never had Lacey been so vulnerable.  She knelt on the floor, inner arms and palms exposed to the ceiling, her head bent in shame.  Jet black hair that was usually braided or pulled back into a ponytail had ended up loose after the night's adventures and fell in a long tangled mass about her head and shoulders like the dark veil of a mourner, obscuring her expression from the probing eyes of her friends.  It was a moment none of them would ever forget though they desperately did not want to remember the noble woman this way.

Rachel knelt next to her, scooting closer, wanting so much just to grab her and hold on but knowing Lacey was very close to running from it all.  The pain was almost too much for her to handle.  "Honey, I know it hurts.  I know you feel guilty and I wish I could relieve you of that but I can't."

"It would be easier if you were angry at me," Lacey whispered, her voice broken and torn.

"Sorry, love, I can't help you there," Rachel murmured.  "But what I really need right now is for you to stick with us here.  You're the only one who can figure this out.  You know how these people work, you know what they'll do."

"Because I'm a monster, too," Lacey toppled to her rear and scooted back so she leaned against the breakfast bar across the room.

"C'mon, baby," Rachel soothed.  "Self pity doesn't become you."

Lacey looked up from her hands which had moments before been interesting enough to garner her full attention.  Now she met the seeking jade eyes across the room.  She saw there, beneath the sorrow and guilt, undeniable love and dedication.

"You can do this because you're the best.  Remember?" Rachel managed a weak grin filled with warm affection.

"Not the best.  I didn't see it coming like this.  I didn't think it would happen on the slopes.  I was more worried about you sitting down there by yourself."

"So we adjust the plan.  It's not over, Lace, and I won't let you give up."  She paused for a moment, trying to read the stoic features across from her.  "You feel so damn guilty about this then you fix it," the blonde demanded, knowing sympathy wasn't the right direction to take with her dark lover.

Lacey's ice blue eyes blazed with cold heat.  "What do you mean?"

"Bring our little girl back, Lacey.  Quit worrying about what happened and how we could have avoided it and let's start looking to the future.  You said they'll contact us?  How will we be ready?  What can we do then?"

The small room was filled with silence except the clicking of Karma's nails as she trotted across the room to curl up at Lacey's side.  Her slight frame leaned heavily into the tall woman as she tried to lick her chin.  Lacey pulled the animal into a hug, pressing her cheek along the top of Karma's head.

Rachel acknowledged the immediate threat was past and Lacey was starting to appear more her normal confident self.  But they weren't over it, yet.  Lacey would harbor that guilt until well after they had Molly home.  She felt she'd failed as their self-appointed protector.

They must have all sat in silence for a full twenty minutes before Lacey looked up from where she'd been petting Karma's back.  "They know we're here.  We need to get a wire on these phones.  We have to stay until they contact us.  They probably took her to Denver, this place is too small to try to hide a kidnapped child."

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she crawled across the floor and into her lover's lap.  Lacey wrapped the young woman in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I lost her," Lacey murmured for Rachel's ears only.

"You didn't, baby.  It'll be okay."

XXXXX

She'd never had a lot of friends.  She was a child who enjoyed her solitude and got along better with adults than kids her own age.  She was used to being alone.  But this was different.  Now her friends were the darkness and cold that surrounded her and set her teeth to chattering.  She wasn't chilly, really, but she was scared and she didn't know what else to do so she let the sound of her clicking teeth echo around the room and fill her silence.

The stench of herself made her nose itch and she became more embarrassed with each passing moment.  When the man had jumped out from the trees and lifted her off the snow, she'd been so frightened she'd wet herself.  She recalled the moment with growing amounts of shame and almost hoped her mother and Lacey wouldn't find her this way: a shivering little girl with smelly pants.

The man had covered her mouth and whispered horrible horrible things in her ear about what he'd do to Lacey if she screamed.  She'd so wanted to scream.  So wanted Lacey to come find her and take her home.  But the sound wouldn't leave her throat, even as he dragged her, skis and all, up through the woods past where Lacey was with the others.

She'd seen the dark woman talking to a man in a red jacket and she cried silent tears into the darkness, willing her second mother to look up at that minute and see her through the camouflage of trees.  She'd prayed that Lacey would sense her near.  She prayed that her voice would be found and she could yell and alert her.  But fear had made her mute and her silent prayers had gone unanswered.

The man had said rude things to her and described things her young mind couldn't even fathom except to know they were bad and involved her mother and Lacey.  She thought he probably meant they would be dead, too, but she chose not to linger on those thoughts.

She'd done her best to be good, to not give him reason to hurt her family.  She'd sat on the chair lift with him and went down the slope on the other side that she hadn't been on yet.  It was harder than the other runs and she'd fallen a couple of times only to be dragged to her feet.  The man had attached a rope to her for the trip down to the bottom of the slope, not giving her a chance to veer into the trees or try to avoid him.  She wouldn't have tried anyway, she acknowledged, because she was too afraid of what he might do.

So now she sat in her pants which had long since dried but still reeked of urine, having been relieved of her snowpants, jacket, and boots so she wore only jeans, a turtleneck, and socks.  The cot was far from comfortable, the mattress lumpy and holey.  She imagined it smelt nearly as bad as she did and that gave her some odd comfort.  The mean man had put handcuffs on her and tightened them as far as they would go.  It still gave her some play but that only chafed her worse as she spun her bony wrists in the constricting circles.  The cuffs were chained to an eyebolt in the wall at the head of the bed but it had enough slack that she could sit as she was now: knees drawn to chest and arms hugging them.  She rested her chin on her knees, wrinkling her nose again at the scent of herself, and surveyed her surroundings.

She was about cried out and for that she was grateful.  She'd cried so hard in the back of the van that she'd thrown up all over her jacket several times until she was reduced to dry aching heaves.  She'd regretted that.  Her mother had helped her pick out the jacket; it was a soft shade of pink with purple piping.  Lacey had teased her that pink and purple didn't go well together but once she'd tried it on for the tall woman, Lacey had beamed.  She'd told her how beautiful she was and that she could even make purple and pink look good.  The memory warmed her heart a little but also helped a lone tear find its way down her cheek.

The mean man had pulled her retching body from the van and dragged her through the darkness into a house.  There he stripped her of her outer clothing, calling her a sniveling baby and teasing her for her soiled pants.  Then he'd taken her down some stairs and into the room she now occupied.

It was smaller than her room at home, smaller even than Jester's stall, she thought.  The only furniture was the cot she sat on and a small wooden cart of some sort across from the foot of the bed.  Even if she laid on her back and stretched her body fully, she couldn't reach the cart with her toe.  She knew because she'd spent a good part of the night trying to do just that for no better reason than it was an obstacle to overcome.  Finally, when the first rays of dawn had crept by the sides of the cardboard taped into the window, she'd given up and moved to this new position.  She liked how she sat now with her back to the wall and her body curled in on itself, it made her feel safer even though she knew she wasn't.  Even though the thought of the mean man coming back down here set her teeth to rattling again.

She didn't know why he wanted her and had no clue what she could give him.  She hadn't heard anything aside from some occasional thumps upstairs since she'd been deposited here and no one had come to see her.  She hoped that Lacey and her mom would find her soon.  Even though they would be mad that she wet her jeans and threw up on her coat, they would still take her home.  She hoped it was soon because she was hungry and frightened and she didn't think she'd ever be warm again.

XXXXX

Rachel hated the skiers here for their holidays.  She hated their smiling faces and trickling laughter and she wanted to scream at all of them.  My child is lost!  How dare you have fun, how dare you plan a merry Christmas.  The anger nearly seethed from her pores as she cast green-eyed daggers to the oblivious crowds around her.

Lacey easily felt the anger rolling off her partner in dark wicked waves.  She stood beside her and touched her occasionally, trying to ground her, trying to offer all the support she could muster.  She knew that her young lover was grateful for her presence even if she was unable to show that at the moment.

They waited for the sheriff to come back from talking to the ski patrol.  He was getting some of the snowmobiles to take them back up to the spot where the woman and child had encountered the accident yesterday.  >From there they would walk down the slope and look for any clues indicating what might have happened.  Last night they'd been focused solely on finding her and not on scouring for prints of someone else.

Lacey kicked herself for that now.  Had she not let her pride get in the way, had she not been denying that she'd failed them, she would have realized the truth sooner.  Molly wasn't lost.  She hadn't gotten injured or wandered off into the trees lining the runs.  She'd been taken.  By the time Lacey was ready to admit that to herself, and share that information with others, Molly had been off the mountain and halfway to Denver probably.  And it had been too cold and dark to take the dogs back up and look for tracks.

The sun was just glittering orange and red across the snow covered peaks.  Early risers were seated on the patios enjoying hot chocolate and flavored yuppy coffees.  The same image had been beautiful to Rachel the morning before but she didn't even notice it now.  The sunrise danced off her golden hair and reflected in her emerald eyes where it was appreciated for a moment by her tall lover.  She studied her young partner resolutely.

"I love you," Lacey murmured, reaching an awkward mittened hand up to brush at fine blonde tendrils.

Rachel glanced from the slope she'd been scrutinizing to meet her lover's blue eyes.  They were nearly violet in the morning sun, laden as they were with layers of guilt, shame, and love.  The young blonde smiled briefly and leaned into the affectionate touch.  The woolen mitten was scratchy on her cheek.  "With all my heart, Lace," she affirmed softly.  "Don't doubt that."

Lacey nodded solemnly, grateful they'd battled this morning and found neutral ground.  It hadn't even been a fight really, despite Lacey's best efforts to start one and open herself to angry fire.

Sheriff Railer approached them then, feeling he was interrupting a moment but knowing he had no choice.  He cast Lacey a look she interpreted as anger at her stubbornness the previous night, then he turned his attention to Rachel, effectively removing the dark woman from the conversation.  Lacey bristled but held her tongue.

"Ms. Wilson, we have the snowmobiles ready and another search crew.  We have enough light to go up now if you'd like?"

Rachel nodded, declining to point out that the man was an idiot if he thought she'd sit here all day.

"Good, you can ride with me," he started to take her elbow and lead her away from Lacey but the tall woman interpreted his intentions immediately and cleared her throat.

"A minute, Raich?"

Rachel nodded readily and politely excused herself from her escort.  The sheriff glared silently at Lacey's back.

"Baby, he's gonna work you for some info.  I didn't give him much last night, just said I thought it was an old business acquaintance bent on revenge."

Rachel nodded and patted her lover's arm.  "Don't worry, crony.  I understand."

The sheriff did indeed work on Lacey's story during the brief trip up the mountain.  Though the ambient temperature was more than bearable for a morning in December, the wind that whipped back Rachel's hair while aboard the vehicle was frigid.  She shivered and glanced over her shoulder at her lover who rode on the snowmobile behind them.

"Ms. Wilson?  Did you hear the question?"  The man tilted his head back so the wind might catch his words and deliver them to his passenger.

"No.  Sorry."

"Your friend wasn't being very helpful last night.  If you know who's been sending you threats, it could help us to locate your daughter."

"We don't know who it is," Rachel answered honestly.  The trick here would be telling them enough information to search intelligently for her daughter without landing her lover in jail.  She was pretty sure she was too emotionally and physically exhausted to walk this fine line.

"Ms. Wilson," he said in a disbelieving voice.

She shrugged.  "We think it's someone she worked with or against ... someone she met through work."

"What does she do?"

"She's self employed.  A computer security firm or something ... I don't know much about it."  So far Rachel was doing fairly well sticking with honesty.

"And this business garners enemies of that nature?" he sounded incredulous.

Well, Rachel mused, so much for being honest.  "We think it was her previous job.  She was doing ... um ... she was a business consultant.  Purchasing for a large corporation, investing ... things like that."

"Purchasing what?"

Oops. "Computer parts and stuff."  Rachel was incredibly glad the man couldn't see her face as she lied poorly.

"And that inspires that kind of hatred?"

"Competitive market," Rachel mumbled stupidly.  "But the list of possibilities is incredibly long.  And we were trying to narrow it down."

"Before you got the police involved?"

None of this sounded very plausible the way the sheriff said it.  Sorry, Lace, I'm doing my best.  "You guys are busy."  Jesus, do I suck at this.

"Are you sure it couldn't be someone you know?  Like the girl's father?"

"No," Rachel shook her head.  "Positive."

He let it drop even though he still had questions because just then they arrived at the spot where Lacey indicated the accident had been.  Rachel approached her lover with a meek expression and the taller woman laughed slightly.

"You are a horrible liar."

"I know," she responded softly.

"So is there already a warrant out for my arrest or are you saving that for the trip back down the mountain?"

"Oh, Lace," the blonde moaned.  "It's not that bad.  I just sound like a moron telling him crap about you buying computer merchandise for Vinnie and how people would kidnap to get revenge."

Lacey laughed.  "Oh, yeah.  Those memory chips are pretty vital.  A lot of people would threaten lives for them."

"Shut up, crony.  You didn't prepare me," Rachel growled, only partially joking.

"I know, love," Lacey lost her bantering tone.  "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Rachel sighed, ran a trembling hand through her wind tangled hair.  She met her lover's blue eyes with misty green.  "I'm just ... not doin' so good."

"I know," Lacey assured her.  "We're going to get through this."

Rachel's eyes filled immediately with tears.  "I don't want to get through this without her, Lace.  I don't know if I can."

"Shh, baby," the dark woman soothed, stepping forward to envelop her companion in a strong embrace.  "I'll find her.  I promise you that."

The rest of the group had dismounted their vehicles and now stood around the well packed down snow.  Everyone was grateful it hadn't snowed the night before.

They made their way as a group lower towards the section where they imagined Molly had been abducted.  Once there they spread out and began searching further into the woods for any signs of tracks or footprints.  They found some snowshoe marks a good twenty yards from the edge and on backtracking spotted where the prints began.  Everything to that point had been swept clean, presumably with a branch.  The darkness of the night before hadn't allowed them to see it.

Following the prints further up the mountain, they found where they cut across to the slope above where Lacey had been standing.  She shivered in the shadow of trees on the edge of the run.  They'd walked right past her, carried the little girl within her eyesight but she'd been so intent on helping the couple.

The sheriff trotted up to Rachel and Lacey as others gathered around.  He was wielding his radio as if it were a weapon.  "They questioned the person working that lift last night," he pointed across the slope to the lift that stopped in the middle of the mountain before continuing its journey upwards.  There was a shack there to shelter the men and women that insured the lift was running properly.  "She remembered seeing a little girl and a man right before the lifts went off.  Said they went all the way up and the little girl was crying."

Instinctually, Lacey reached a long arm around Rachel's shoulders and pulled her close against her solid body.  She could feel the smaller woman shudder.  "How about that slope?  Where does it go?"

"The lift comes out on top of a blue black.  He could have taken it all the way down to the other side of the ski park, by the other lodge.  You never would have seen him," he directed this to Rachel, remembering that she'd been sitting at the bottom of the run where they walked now.

"He took her away," Rachel said softly, looking with liquid green eyes from her lover to the sympathetic man in front of her.

Neither one spoke.  There was no need to confirm what was obvious.

Finally, it was Lacey who broke the silence.  "What about the couple with the injury?  Was it a set up?"  That thought had been eating at her since Molly's disappearance.

"I don't think so.  The hospital released her this morning and they're back at their hotel room.  I think they're legitimate.  They agreed to speak with us ... you can come along if you'd like."

Lacey looked to the impossibly blue sky and heaved a huge sigh.  Holy shit this whole thing sucked.  "Yeah.  Let's get off this damn mountain."

After much arguing, Lacey convinced Rachel to go back to the condo where Rico and Mary waited by the phones.  The dark woman continued on to talk to Bob and Janet.

The Sheriff was right, she found them perfectly believable.  It must have been convenient, is all.  The asshole probably watched the girl all day waiting for the right moment.

XXXXX

She shifted uncomfortably on the bed and leaned back slightly to look at the window behind her once again.  She could see by the cracks around the covering that light was fading.  The mean man had visited her once with a cup of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  It was grape jelly and she hated grape but she was too hungry to care.

Of course the water had also led to the inevitable need to relieve herself again.  She'd waited as long as possible and cried to the mean man to come take her to the restroom.  He never responded to her pleas and she gave up in the end, scooting as far as her chains would allow her.  She was able to wrestle with her already soiled jeans and pull them part of the way off.  She was quite proud of her accomplishment and managed to relieve herself on the floor and not her clothes or the bed.  She was grateful anyway to be in dry pants, even if they did still reek.

So now she sat and watched the light fade from the painted walls, leaving shadows in its wake.  She wanted so badly to be away from this place.  She was afraid of the man and his slitted eyes.  She hated the stench of herself and this room.  Her belly growled with hunger.

She wanted her mother and Lacey.

The man had never said anything to her except to yell and ridicule her.  He'd never explained why she was here or how long she'd have to stay.  Molly had asked when he'd come in with the food but aside from snide comments about her sniveling behavior, he'd remained silent.  It had been enough to make her nervous and sick again, vomiting over the side of the bed the remainder of her sandwich.  A short time later he'd pounded on the door and yelled at her again, making her sick, making her cry.

She felt better now, not having heard from the mean man in hours.  She'd spent the time well, using her mother's advice and remembering good things.  She thought fondly of her mother and Lacey, pictured Karma and Jester.  She'd remembered playing video games with Rico not very long ago and looked forward to doing it again soon.  Lacey would fix this and then it would all be over.  She'd come in here and carry her out just as she'd come to the school last week and took her from the principal's office.  Just as the dark woman had held her countless times after nightmares, she would hold her when this one was over.  She just wanted to be strong until Lacey could get here.

Please let it be soon.

XXXXX

Rachel was only slightly annoyed at being sent back to the condo with a police escort.  She hadn't really wanted to meet the couple, afraid that her anger may be expressed with blame at them and she wasn't really interested in doing that to those poor people.  Lacey must have sensed that in her which would explain her practically forcing the blonde into the squad car.

She sat quietly on the couch in the living room and stared at the wall, holding Karma in her lap.  The police officer had stayed, watching Rico's equipment with an interested eye.

The young man had been busy while they were absent that morning, collecting all the bits and pieces he needed to put together a very crude wire tap and recorder.  He hoped it was good enough.  He had better quality stuff on the way but didn't want to go without even for a few hours.

The blonde kid was showing his handiwork to the attentive officer when the phone rang.  They all looked to each other and Rachel rose slowly and made her way across the floor to pick up the receiver.  Karma jingled behind her.

"Hello?"

She was answered by silence as she watched the reels on the small tape recorder begin to spin.  She raised her eyes to meet Rico's and then Mary's.

"Hello?" she tried again.

"We have the girl."

The voice wasn't one she recognized though it wasn't scrambled in any way.  Her knees buckled and she leaned heavily on the breakfast bar until Mary came around and pulled a chair up for her.

"Is she okay?"

"For now."

"Can I talk to her?"

The man laughed.  "Not yet.  But listen."  It sounded as if he was moving from one room to another or going up or down stairs.  Then there was the faint sound of retching and the man pounded on the door.  "You sniveling brat.  Cut that out or you ain't ever gonna see your mom again."  His outburst was countered by gentle sobs.

"Don't hurt her, please," Rachel pleaded, tears tracking unbidden down her pale cheeks.  She felt sick to her stomach and her whole body shook.

"That's not up to me.  That's up to you and that cunt you sleep with.  I'll call back."

Rachel held the phone silently to her ear long after the dial tone had turned into a relentless annoying beep.  It was Mary who finally pried it from her fingers and hung it up.  Then the blonde jumped up and ran to the bathroom where she was violently ill.  That had escalated into crying sobs and dry heaves until the police officer had called for medical assistance.  The sedative was a no-brainer after that.

The doctor had delivered it by needle to Rachel's trembling arm while the officer called his sheriff.

XXXXX

It was late in the afternoon by the time Lacey survived another round of the sheriff's vicious questioning and walked along the ski town's main street to their rented condo.  The entire thing was still so far fetched it was hard to believe.  Someone had kidnapped their little girl.  She shook her head, dark ponytail bouncing from shoulder to shoulder.  She'd left the sheriff's office several hours before, trying to calm herself down before facing her distraught lover.

She could almost smell the impending disaster when she opened the front door.  Karma trotted to her with a worried look on her face and there was quite a bit of arguing going on in the kitchen.  Lacey made her way past the dog with a gentle pat before emerging in the tiled room.

"Dammit, Rico, one simple job and you can't do it!"

Lacey was shocked to see Mary standing in front of Rico, yelling at him.  She'd never heard the woman even raise her voice before.

"Problem?" the dark woman asked huskily, her timbre negating any need to yell.

They both blanched at her word and stood looking at her stupidly.

Lacey glanced around and noticed that nothing seemed out of the ordinary.  "Where's Rachel?" she asked slowly, knowing they looked entirely too calm even in this panicked state to be delivering news of that magnitude.

"She's in the bathroom," Rico offered, looking like the cat that ate the canary.

"Okay," Lacey drawled, knowing without a doubt that there was more to the story.

"Being sick," Mary added helpfully.

"Nervous?"

"Maybe that too," Rico nodded.

"And maybe what else?" Lacey prodded.

"Could be the sedative, don't you think?" he turned his question to Mary, blue eyes pleading with her to help him out a little.

"I thought it was the alcohol, actually," Mary said, hanging him out to dry with a gentle flourish.

Lacey's ice eyes blazed.  "What say we start at the beginning?"

While Rico played their copy of the tape for the dark-haired woman, Mary stepped out to check on Rachel.  The police officer had already taken another copy to be analyzed.

Lacey guessed it must have all happened after she left the station.  She cursed herself for not coming straight back and then cursed the sheriff for not finding her.  Rico explained the sedative and why it had been used.

"So tell me about the alcohol?" Lacey said softly.

"Well, I was watching her, ya know," Rico started, inching his way towards the door in case he needed to make a quick getaway.  "And she was doing really well, calming down, sitting on the couch.  Mary was in the shower.  I went into the bedroom to get a book out of my bag and got sidetracked ... sat down in there and started reading it.  When I came out, she had that bottle in her hands."

For the first time Lacey noticed the half empty bottle sitting on the counter.  It was Tequila.  Great.  "And how full was it before she had it?"

"I don't know, Lace," Rico admitted quietly.  "I know you trusted me to watch her and I shouldn't have left her alone.  She really did lose it."

Lacey took a deep breath.  "And now she's in there puking?"

"Yeah," Mary nodded, coming back into the room.

"What about the sedative?"

"That's the first thing we did," Mary assured the taller woman.  "We called the doctor.  He said to watch her but he didn't expect it would be a problem, especially since she was vomiting."

Lacey nodded and started to leave the room without another word.  Her lover needed her.

"Lace?" Rico called out to her.  "I let you down, I'm sorry."

The dark-haired woman stopped and turned to face him.  He really was devastated.  He would do anything for Lacey, had even killed for her on more than one occasion.  He felt horrible at having done such a bad job at something so important.  Lacey teetered on the edge of losing her carefully reined in temper and yelling at him for his stupidity and giving into the soft look in his eyes.  She sighed.  Loving Rachel had definitely taken the bite out of her bark.  "We're all gonna survive this, Rico," she said simply, not ready to forgive him for his transgression but not willing to leave him broken.

He nodded and Mary stepped closer to him to wrap an arm around his slender waist.  Lacey turned and continued to the bathroom to find her lover.

XXXXX
 

Continued in Part 4
 

Return to The Bard's Corner