"Honey, have you seen my keys?"

A ruffled looking goldish blonde head popped up from peeking under the couch. Sarah run her hand through her hair in frustration. She could have sworn that she had left them on the counter in the kitchen last night.

"Aren't they on the kitchen counter where you usually put them?" Kris ambled in from the garage, the rubber soles of her boots squeaked a bit on the smooth tile.

"No, that's where I thought I put them?" Sarah flopped down on the stuffed black leather, letting out a sigh. "You think that I would ask you if I knew that they were there?"

Blue eyes blinked twice. "Huh? I'll? we can use my keys."

Another sigh. "You know how much I love losing things."

"You want to just order in then? I remember you saying that you wanted to try that new Chinese place out. I think I know the phone number." Kris leaned against the doorjamb, her hands shoved into her pockets.

"Mmphff? let's not? I don't think that my stomach can take it right now."

Kris shoved off from the wall and moved to sit on the mahogany coffee table. "Tell you what? what do you say to you and me, the couch, and a burning fireplace?"

Sarah grimaced. "I'm PMSing again, aren't I?"

"I think it's about time." came the wry response as a pair of large hands propped the blonde's feet in Kris's lap, rubbing them through the soft cotton. "Your lower back was really tense last night."

"Kris!" a coral blush flared up on Sarah's face.

"Well, you were? " the taller woman grinned. Sarah always looked so adorable when she blushed. "That and the fact that you would have usually spotted your keys in Cleo's dog bed."

"Again?"

A nod. "I told you she hates that key chain of that cat that you got."

"Erf? is that why there are teeth marks every time I look at that thing?"

"You could ask her." Kris chuckled, moving her hands up higher.

Sarah giggled. "Oh yeah, I can imagine that? Cleopatra Morisson, give me back my keys or you are in big trouble, young lady. Do you despise the key charm that I have because it's a cat?"

The darker woman shook her head and kneaded her lover's calves. "She'll just look at you with those innocent brown eyes, bat her lashes and you'll turn into a puddle of goo."

"Like you don't?"

"Me? Naw. I just go get her a milk bone and a bite of jerky."

It was silent for a while, the constant ticking of the clock and the muted roar of the heater being the only sounds in the comfortable den. Sarah lay back, relishing the warm hands undoing the tension that seemed to grip her entire body. Work had been exhausting, having to deal with the seemingly endless board meetings and the constant bombardment of complaints from their customers. There were times when she just wanted to hide under a rock and never come out again. She had found herself snapping at her coworkers in the past week, something that she was not inclined to do whatsoever. Even just know, her Kris had gotten snapped at, something that she had never done.

Sarah let out a long breath. Even through the bad, Kris was always patient, loving. Like now. A sleepy smile turned up the corners of her mouth, as her eyes drifted closed in contentment. Her thoughts raced through her mind, thinking of different ways of making up to her wonderful partner.

"Turn over." a low, velvet voice rumbled close to her ear, sending a pleasant shiver through her body.

Kris gently levered the blonde's legs onto the couch and straddled the prone woman. Her hands slid up and dug into the tight back, massaging the knots, trying to work them loose. Her grin grew into a smile when the body under her let out a long breath and slowly relaxed.

There was another long pause before Sarah shifted and reached a hand behind her. Kris slid off to one side and ran a hand through blonde locks in an attempt to bring them under some semblance of order. She willing joined her partner on the sofa when the hand entwined in hers gave a little tug. Sarah rolled over onto her side and blatantly stared, scrutinizing her partner's face

"What?" Kris asked, one corner of her lips turned up in a lopsided half grin. "Do I have something on my face?"

Sarah shook her head. She touched her forehead to her lover's. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I love you."

Sarah felt the powerful beating under her hand pause, then resume hastily as her fingers toyed with the buttons that ran along the length of Kris's shirt. The look on her partner's face was a cross between stunned and elated.

"Love you too." Kris tilted her head just a little. Just enough so that her lips brushed lingeringly across Sarah's. "Ever since day one."

That got a groan from her companion as Sarah buried her head in Kris's neck, breathing in the familiar, unique scent. She mumbled from her refuge. "Dofh rehingh megf."

"Why not?"

"God, that was a horribly bad day." Sarah sighed. That day had really sucked poop, from the time that the alarm clock didn't ring, to when her working lunch break had been cut short by her mother.


"You must come with me dear." Sarah's mother, Diana implored. "I've got something very important to tell you!"

Probably the neighbors getting a new car. Sarah sighed and acquiesced, hoping that her mother wouldn't take too long. Usually she loved lunch with her mother, but today wasn't her day. Between being late for work and the six inch pile of papers in her inbox, she was looking at another late night trying to catch up.

They headed down to a restaurant just down the street, both voting to walk there instead of driving. The server greeted them cordially by name before shouting their usual order into the kitchen. Sarah and her mother chose a spot in a corner, ducking under the foliage that threatened to latch onto them.

"You know how your father and George were talking about getting together to get that extension built on the house?" Diana took a bite of her Boston clam chowder. "Let me tell you?"

She barely made it back to work in time and managed to spend just about all of until nine o'clock sweating bullets to get all of the reports done. On the way home, her car decided to keel over and she spent twenty minutes calling up her insurance agency. Her temper had finally reached its end when they told her that it would take them three hours to get a tow truck to her.

She thought that the day couldn't have gotten any worse. That was until a large shadow knocked on her rolled up window.


"I thought that you were the most gorgeous thing in the universe." Kris murmured. "I think I stopped breathing for a moment before I knocked on your window."

Sarah chuckled. "You scared the bejesus out of me. All I saw was this big, dark shadow and all these horror stories of people being robbed on the highway flashed through my head."

"So that's what the look was. " Kris remembered the paleness of Sarah's face that night and the fear in her sea green eyes. "I wondered if you were sick or something."

Sarah nodded. "Probably. I thought about taking the flashlight to your head. Until I saw your badge? then, you became my best friend."

"I think it was the night after, when we went out to dinner, that I finally admitted to myself that I was head over heels."

The rattling of the branches and the sporadic ticking of leaves hitting the window, offered a soft counter point to the ticking and the crackling as the two women snuggled closed, both letting the quietness of the moment surround them.

"I am so damned lucky." Kris breathed, her eyes almost glowing violet in the low light.

"Nuh uh." Sarah nipped at the exposed skin on the tanned collarbone right in front of her. "We're so damned lucky."

"We going to get any luckier tonight?"

"Mmm? maybe." Sarah returned to kiss, delving into the wave of pleasure that washed over her.

Ring

"Oh god." Kris sighed. "Who in the world is that?"

Sarah reached for the phone. "Well, it could have been worse. Your mother could have been ringing the doorbell."

Ding dong

Kris's eyes went wide as the two women exchanged glances. The doorbell ran again, making her scurry over to open the door as Sarah conversed with someone over the phone. She barely managed to stifle a groan when she saw who was on her front step. "Hello, Mother."

A pair of hazel eyes glared up at her. "Aren't you going to let me in?"

Kris stepped aside and sighed inaudibly. She really didn't want to deal with this right now. Her mother could only be here for one reason and she wasn't looking forward to the fight that was surely to follow the insincere greeting they would exchange.

"Mrs. Roberts." Sarah managed to wrangle a polite smile onto her face. "To what do we owe this unexpected visit?"

Kris shrugged when her lover caught her eye. She certainly had not invited her over.

"I came to talk to Kristina." the thin woman turned a critical eye at her daughter, then back at the blonde. "Alone."

"Anything you say to me, you can say to my wife, Mother."

Sarah winced at the comment, knowing that it would infuriate Kris's mother. Not that I mind. I think I'm the luckiest wife in this universe, in laws be damned. She ignored the icy glare that was aimed at her, letting the love shine in her eyes.

Kris felt a wave of warmth wash over her, even as her mother scowled.

"I have nothing to say to that woman." Karen snapped, not wanting the one who had corrupted her daughter
in the same room with her.

"'That woman' has a name. I would appreciate it if you used it." not five minutes and her mother was grinding on her nerves already. Surprise, surprise. "I'm sure she would too."

"It's alright honey." Sarah gave her lover a smile over her enraged mother in law's shoulder. "I'll go get ready for bed. Don't stay up too late, hmm?"
"It'll only take a minute." Kris waited for the bedroom door to click shut before turning to her mother. "Yes?"
***************************

Kris counted the petals on the flower in the picture on the wall behind her ranting mother. Twice, all thirty seven on them. Her eyes roved over to the CD rack that was kept next to the shelf of movies. She counted those too, finding twenty three more than the last time she had done this.

Her mother had never accepted her lifestyle and it didn't look like she was going to change her views anytime soon. Not that they had ever gotten along that well in the first place. Her dad, well, her dad was a completely different story?

"Are you even listening?" her mother's sharp voice cut through her thoughts of her father. "You're not even listening to me! You've got some stupid, shit eating grin on your face!"
"Umm?" How to get out of this one?

"I don't know why I bother with you! You never listen to me, not even when you were a child. Now look where that's gotten you? You're living in this disgusting lifestyle with an unrespectable job. There are times when I wish I had never bore you!"
A vise tightened around Kris's chest, rubbing already raw wounds. Never mind that she had already heard this a hundred times over. It was the same every single time.

"And another thing-"

"Mom, I really don't want to have an argument with you right now." Kris cut her off. "Would you please leave?"

"Don't you interrupt me young lady." Karen was nowhere near done. "If you had a single speck of sense or intelligence, you will-"

"Kris has plenty of sense and intelligence."

Both women turned to the being leaning against the doorjamb. Sarah pushed herself upright and walked over to her lover, giving her back little scratches in an effort to calm her.

"You are the one who corrupted my daughter. Who are you to be talking about sense, you little-"

Kris bristled. Any insults at her were fine and dandy, but one word against Sarah and there would be hell to pay.

"Mrs. Roberts, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't insult Kris. I'll have you know that she has a brilliant mind and a wonderful heart. If you recall, I've told you that Kris is no different from who she was fifteen years ago. The two of you just happen to different tastes." a flash of fire burned in Sarah's eyes. Kris suffered enough insults at work. She certainly didn't need any coming from family. Especially family that was supposed to love her.

"Look Mother." Kris sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Would you please leave? It's been a long day and we've both got to get up early tomorrow morning."

Karen glared at the two lovers before she stormed to the opened front door. "You remember this Kristina Roberts, and you remember this well. You are no longer my daughter. I never gave birth to a pervert like you."

Kris shut the door behind her mother, leaning heavily against it. Sarah joined her, enveloping her in a much needed hug. "Now you know why I changed my last name."

"Mmm? and here I though you did it because you love me."

"That too." Kris sighed and felt a pressure on her forehead that felt like Sarah's kiss. "Why is it that every time my mother shows up, I get knocked head over keister?"

"Because she's your mother." Sarah tugged her partner over to the couch. "How in the world did a woman like that give birth to someone like you, I have no idea."

"Mmphff." Kris gave Sarah a little squeeze before untangling herself from her. "Why don't you head up and get ready for bed while I make sure that the house doesn't burn down in our sleep? Don't think that I didn't see you in the hallway, little peeper."

"Hey! I didn't want anyone dissing my knight in shining armor." a flustered look flashed across the blonde's face.

"Cop in uniform honey, not a knight." Kris chuckled and swatted the cute butt beside her. "Go one, get."

Sarah stuck out her tongue. "Wench."

"Only for you."

She headed into the bedroom, leaving Kris to tend to the fire. The dark haired woman let out a sigh and leaned her head against the still warm brick, watching the smoldering ash die out slowly. She was supposed to used to it, right? Their conversations always ended like this, so this was unexpected, right?
Then why did it always hurt so damn much?

Kris dusted off her head, wiping the soot on her jeans before shedding her clothing on the way to the bathroom. Her mother was gone until next time and she really didn't want to ruin the night for an already grumpy Sarah. Oh well, guess the restaurant will give our reservation to someone else. She shrugged absently to herself, then grinned at the sound of her partner puttering around in the bathroom.

"Hey there sexy." Sarah leaned back against the body behind her. "Want to get wet?"
"Mmm, already am." Kris wriggled her eyebrows and nipped the earlobe nest to her mouth.

"Ack? brat."

They headed into the shower. Kris grunted, taking the brunt of the cold spray before the water warmed to a more pleasant temperature. Sarah shook her head at the action, something that her wife had done since the first time they had showered together. Kris had been surprised when she had asked why, then shrugged. She had said that is was something she didn't really think about? right before she held open the door for her.

"Who said chivalry is dead?" she chuckled.

"Erm? yeah well, I still don't think about it." Kris snitched the scrubbie mitt and the liquid shower ell. "You want me to stop?'

"Nope." Sarah shook her head and motioned for Kris to kneel so she could shampoo her head. "Not unless you want to."

"Nah, it's alright."

A pause. "You still bummed about your mother?"
A sigh as Kris ran the mitt down a well toned thigh. "A little, I guess."

"Tell you what, first thing tomorrow, I'll go over to your mother's place and be politely rude to her."

That got her a laugh. "Mmphff, watch out world, there's a mad Sarah loose."

"I'm serious-" Sarah was gently cut off with a kiss. "Mmh?"
"I know you are." Kris murmured when they finally parted. "I really don't want to think about her tonight. Please?"

Sarah nodded, knowing that her mother was a sore subject. Her eyes fluttered closed in bliss as long fingers combed through her water slicked hair, almost purring as blunt fingernails scratched her scalp with just the right amount of pressure. It was just another one of those things that Kris did that made her feel very, very loved.

Warm water washed over her head, taking with it, the foamy suds. Sarah opened her eyes, blinking the water out of her eyes. The gentle, rough scrubbing of the mitt made her almost sleepy as she idly traced the markings on Kris's chest with a finger.

Forever Yours.

Written in black ink with Sarah's name underneath. Kris looked down at the words, then at her lover. The pleasant memory of the day she had gotten the tattoo was forever embedded in her mind. It had been the same day that she had decided to let it be known, damned the outcome.


The tattoo parlor had been barren of customers. A teenager with more piercing than she had teeth looked up from her magazine, popping the enormous purple bubble she was blowing.

"What can I do for you officer?"
Kris almost rolled her eyes at the wary look that she was receiving. "I'd like to speak with Adriana Drover, ma'am. Is she here at the moment?"

"Umm?" the teenaged clerk look skeptically at her uniform.

"Would you please tell her that Kris Johnson is here to see her?"

The name triggered something in those yellow contact eyes. "Hang on a second will you?"
Kris nodded politely, making herself comfortable on the ragged couch beneath the multitude of tattoo pictures.

Only to be swept up in a bear hug that almost lifted her off the ground.

"Kristina Meridio Morisson!" a burly looking woman with flaming red hair gave her a sound kiss on the cheek before releasing her bemused captive. "Where the hell have you been?"

Kris coughed, then returned the smile. "Around."

"Ugh, the one thing I still can't stand about you." Adriana shooed her into a large room that looked like a the dentist's office? with lots of odds and ends from a mechanic's shop. "What can I do for you today?"

Kris shook affectionately her head at her long time friend's bluntness. "Here. I want to get this done on my chest."

The tattoo artist took one look at the hand drawn picture and let her mouth drop like a sack of potatoes. Several squeaks came out, but nothing else. Kris waved a hand in front of the staring eyes, trying to get the red head's attention.

"Buh? b? d?" Adriana stared at the police officer. "You serious about Sarah, aren't you?"
"Dead." was the one word that came from Kris, the seriousness in her eyes something that Adriana had seen only on the rare occasions her friend had set her mind, body, and soul in her decision. Only this time, the decision had with it her heart.

Kris walked out of her friend's tattoo parlor, the words inked permanently on her chest. She wasn't too sure about the reaction she would get, but the deed was done and she certainly wasn't having any regrets.

Right?

She was fidgeting with a nervousness that she hadn't felt in years when Sarah finally got home that night. The blonde had taken one look at her and asked what was wrong. Kris steeled herself and tugged off the shirt that she had changed into.

Sarah just stared at the tattoo, eyebrows raised, wide eyed. "You got a tattoo?"

Kris nodded

"My name and something else?"
The officer bit her lip and nodded again. She was on the borderline of freaking out and Sarah's silence was not helping in the least. Kris was about to excuse herself, thinking that her idea had been far too hasty.

Only to have to stagger back as a ball of ecstatic energy launched itself at her. Sarah had her gasping for air after that long, heated kiss.

"What was that for?" Kris managed to stammer out.

"You got my name tattooed over your heart?"
"Yes?" came the tentative answer. "Is that alright?"

Sarah just looked at her. "I love you."

Kris managed to get them both safely on the couch without falling on her butt. Not that Sarah had anything to worry about. If they fell, Kris would have caught her, putting herself between her and the floor.

They had just sat there, snuggling together, listening to the world go by.

"What do the symbols mean?" Sarah finally broke the silence.

"Forever yours."


"Sweetheart?"
Sarah's voice broke through the memory, bringing her back to the present.

"Hmm?" Kris blinked, registering the hands that cupped her face.

"You all right? I think I lost you there."

"Just remembering."

"About what?"

"The day I got this." Kris murmured, pulling her lover closer. "The look on your face the first time you saw it."
Sarah chuckled, her eyes straying to the only two Greek words that she knew. The few that were really important to her anyway. She had once tried to learn Kris's native language once, but it just flew over her head.

"You know, this is the only tattoo that I've shown my dad." mused Kris as she rinsed them both off and toweled Sarah dry.

"Really?" the blonde swiped the towel away from her partner. A random thought popped up in her head, making her pause. "Kris?"

"Mmm?"

"How come when I tell someone that when we shower together, we only talk, I get laughed at?"

Kris chuckled and tweaked the cute little button nose of Sarah's. "Probably because we're supposed to be doing something else while we shower together."

"Something else?" Sarah blinked.

"Something like this?" Kris nibbled a bare shoulder in an attempt to get her point across.

"Oh." Sarah murmured, then grinned. "We only do that in the tub."

"We haven't tried the shower? not yet anyway." Kris groaned, managing out of sheer will to navigate them towards the bed. Sarah was trying her damned hardest, it seemed, to see that her wife didn't make her goal if her actions were any indication.

She eased them both on the large mattress, feeling the soft ness on the silk bed sheets against back and the welcome weight of Sarah on top of her. Sarah sighed as familiar, large hands ran up her sides, to cup her breasts. She pulled back to kiss Kris when the little furrow between her lover's dark brows caught her attention.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her eyes full of concern.

"I? it's nothing." Kris sighed and turned he gaze elsewhere anywhere but the pair of sea green eyes that could see into the very depths of her soul.

"Nothing?" Sarah traced an idle pattern around the bump of Kris's collarbone.

A long pause. "Just something that my mother always told me when I was growing up."

"What's that?"

Kris considered just brushing her off, really not wanting to think about anything but Sarah tonight. One look at the said woman's eyes proved to be her undoing. "Nothing really? just that she always said that I've got to change, otherwise I'd be alone in this world."

"What?" Sarah was indignant.

Kris shrugged and looked away again, her lips drawn tightly in a thin line.

Sarah just stared, trying to understand what her lover had gone through with her parents. Kris had always told her that her mother was overbearing and commanding, but this was something new. She started several times before finding her errant voice. "You know, I never had to hide anything from my parents. They always told her that I should be myself, the world be damned, provided that it wasn't immoral. I never really knew what it meant till I met you. You know what they said me when I told them about us?"

Kris shook her head, not trusting herself to do anything else, her eyes apprehensive.

"They sighed, threw up their hands and said, 'finally!'" Sarah held Kris's head, cupping her hands gently around her cheek. "Don't think that you have to change for me to love you. Don't you ever be anything but yourself because you think I'll keep loving you that way."

Kris was quiet, plucking at the bed sheets. Her voice her low, her throat dry. "All the people that I've been involved with told me the same thing. That no one could possibly stand me long enough to love me because I wouldn't change who I was."

Sarah blinked, unsure if she was one of the people that Kris was talking about, hoping and praying that she wasn't

"I'd rather change that lose you." the darker woman's voice was almost inaudible. "I'd rather be everything you expect me to be than loose you. I couldn't stand it if you left me."

Sarah let out an exasperated sigh. There were times when she just wanted to shake her or smack her to try to get her to realize the obvious. Kris would probably let her, quietly taking the abuse because it was her.

"Now you listen to me and you listen to me good." Kris blinked at the finger that was poking her right on her sternum. "I will not appreciate you being anyone else but yourself, do you understand me? I fell in love with the person that you are. I love every single thing about you, every single little pet peeve, weird quirk and annoying habit that you have. Don't you dare change a damn thing because you think that I'll love you more."

"Everything?' the veil seemed to lift a little in those ice blue eyes.

"Everything."

Kris chewed her bottom lip for a moment, then looked up at Sarah with a sheepish grin. "I'm being a erfing insecure little pile of cow byproduct aren't I?"

"Yeah but you're my little erfing insecure pile of co byproduct." Sarah leaned down to give her a kiss. "Your mother just rattled your beans. You, being the tough cop that you are, just had to make me break out the crowbars and pry it out of you."

Kris make a face at that and stuck her tongue out at Sarah.

Who managed to capture it between her teeth, an amused twinkle in her eyes. Kris raised an eyebrow, then closed the distance between to two of them, not minding in the least that her appendage was being held hostage.

Sarah traced a line down Kris's bare body, feeling the shifting of bone and muscle as the powerful form under her reacted to her touch. That in itself was a powerful seduction, the feeling of all that power, all that primal, raw strength laying under her contained between her legs for a moment.

Almost as powerful as the lips that gently explored her own. She parted them slightly, a much need breath drawn in sharply through her nose as warm, loving hands explored her body with a sense of familiarity. Little nips burned a trail down her body as Kris mapped out the beauty before her with her hands and her mouth.

For Sarah, it had always been amazing how gentle Kris was with her when they made love. Simply because of the impression that the rough calloused hands, the multitude of tattoos, and the tough, cold attitude that Kris often had around her. All of this fell away, almost like she became a completely different person around her. A lioness tempered by the sheep.

For Kris, it was the look in those sea green eyes that amazed her. They were never centered around one emotion. No, they were like a never-ending pool of love, passion, desire and a thousand other things that the world had no words for.

Both lost themselves in each other, relinquishing control and each trusting the other with an explicitness that only two halves of one soul could have. The one thought both had as they drifted off the dream, curled tight around each other, went unspoken, heard only in their hearts.

Happy Valentine's day, love.