"Yeah, I learned some stuff that I had no idea about." Merc said as she lay back on the bench and placed her hands on the weight bar. "She's just like us Tracy; actually, she said she was poor white trash." She took a deep breath, pressed up on the bar and then lowered it down to her chest. Exhaling, she pushed it back up for a count of two and then back down.

"And all this time you thought she was a rich kid like the ones she hung out with." She watched the veins bulge on her friend's neck and put her hands out to steady the bar. "You looked all nice and comfy when I left this morning; I was hoping she didn't kill you for laying all over her." Merc dropped the bar in the holders and sat up.

"I'm surprised she didn't smack me one," she looked up at Tracy and dropped her head back down. "Do you think she's gay…I mean I know she watches me but that doesn't mean anything." Tracy gave her a wicked grin and dropped down on the end of the bench in front of her.

"Well, you could kiss her and if you survive afterward then she's gay. If not and you die then we'll all know to stay away from her."

"Gee thanks Tracy that really helps a lot, doesn't matter anyway, she's off limits."

"I don't see anyone here that's gonna nark on you and no one in the barracks would say anything either." Ten minutes later Finnegan called them upstairs for breakfast, Merc couldn't help but watch her as she set a plate heaping with food in front of her. She turned her head, looked right down the front of the button down shirt that she wore, and felt her face heat up. She knew that she hadn't had that shirt on before and wondered if she had put it on to distract her. She jumped in her seat when a foot kicked her shin and looked over at a grinning Tracy. "So Fin, what do ya wanna do today?"

"Ohh and what exactly is there to do here?" She asked and then sat down across from Merc to eat.

"Well, Merc can teach you how to fish if you don't know how. Or you can polish all that damn chrome on her bike, if you do that, she'll love you forever."

"Ohh well that sounds like fun," She looked up at Merc. "Who's the slave you usually have shinning all that chrome?"

"That would be me," Tracy grumbled. "She makes me do that when I screw up at work, it's a punishment worse than death."

*********

Tracy lay on a blanket in just a bikini bottom back from the lakes edge trying to even out her suntan, Merc and Finnegan sat on the end of the dock with their feet in the water and fishing poles in their hands. So far, they had caught one bass a piece for lunch and an old bicycle tire. Merc kept taking quick glances until Finnegan caught her. "Why do you keep peeking at me?"

"Just curious…you have more piercings in one ear than the other, any reason for it?"

"That's called getting drunk and letting an idiot try and pierce your ears."

"Hey it could be worse; you could have ended up with a tattoo." She looked over and saw the blush running up Finnegan's neck. "Where is it and what is it?"

"I can't tell you and its Tinker Belle," She saw blue eyes twinkle and a wicked grin come over Merc's face. "Don't ask why it's Tinker Belle because I haven't the slightest idea and all I remember is this giant biker with more hair than a grizzly laughed the entire time he was doing it."

"Is it big and visible when you wear a bikini?"

"Its big enough and I'm not telling." Merc chuckled and wiggled her brows.

"Anything else pierced besides your ears?" Finnegan looked over and captured twinkling blue eyes.

"You tell me, you looked down my shirt this morning did you see any nipple rings?" She grinned when Merc's face turned bright red.

"Sorry about that, I don't usually do things like that…" She sighed and looked down into the water. "Sometimes I'm no better than a man…"

"Don't worry about it Mac, I took it as a compliment." She bumped shoulders with her and pointed out to the lake. "So where's all the fish?"

"Must be on strike or something, maybe if we change the bait we'll get something. Two little fish ain't enough food for the three of us."

"Nope, maybe we should go to Sea World and get one of their whales for you and Tracy." She started to reel her line in when the tip of Merc's rod bent down once, popped up and bent almost into a U. "On second thought, I think you may have one on there." She quickly reeled her line in and then grabbed the net sitting beside her, she grinned when Merc growled and fought with what ever was on her line. "Maybe I should get a harpoon out, that thing must be huge!"

"Must be the big daddy of the lake." Merc forced out between clenched teeth and then let out a breath when the fish stopped fighting. "What the Hell…Ohhh shit!" The drag squealed, the fishing rod bent sideways and then went back into a U shape. "Look at that will ya!" She yelled when a black body surfaced and then rolled, she was so sure that she had finally caught him when the line snapped and sent her rod and line back at her. She yelped, fell on to her back and grabbed at her forehead. "Son of a bitch! I want scuba gear and a spear gun, I want that damn fish over my fireplace mantel!"

Tracy leaned over her and snickered. "You don't have a fireplace Capt. Nemo; you don't even have a mantel."

"I'll build one after I get that fish!" Finnegan pulled her hand away and looked at the bright red line that bisected her forehead.

"That looks really nasty," She touched the area and chuckled when Merc slapped away her hand. "I'll go get ya some ice and your motorcycle helmet; you need all the protection you can get."

"So how are you gonna explain that mark to ma and Timmy?" She asked and dropped down to sit beside her.

"It'll be gone before I see them so I'm not worried about it."

"Wrong answer, they're coming across the yard right now."

"I don't think Timmy will even notice me, he's gonna be drooling on your tits instead." She gave her a huge toothy grin when she looked around and crossed her arms over her breasts.

"Dam it ta Hell!" She sighed when Merc pulled her t-shirt off and handed it to her. "I owe ya big time; I'll bring donuts every morning."

Finnegan came trotting back down to the dock and saw ma and Timmy standing down there laughing at Merc, she grinned and continued on her way. When she reached her, she stepped behind her and placed the ice bag on her forehead.

"If I hit myself in the head will you do that for me?" Timmy asked and stepped closer to her. "Ya know my sister whimpers when she's hurt and gets this stupid pout on her face."

"Do not, that's you who whimpers and pouts." She whimpered when Finnegan moved the ice bag lower and pulled her back into her legs.

"See, she just whimpered!" He jumped when ma smacked him on his ass and then grabbed his arm.

"Come on tiny Tim, we have all those groceries in the car." She waved at Tracy and headed up to the chalet. "We'll need your muscles; I got one of those huge lunch meat trays from work. Some office ordered it and then said they didn't want it."

********
Finnegan watched them go up and then moved from behind Merc, she lowered the ice and looked at the red welt between Merc's eyebrows. "How's it feel?"

"Stings like hell and I swear I can see the damn thing." She ran a finger across it and whimpered. "Good thing I don't have ta go into the barracks, Junior would broadcast it across the radio." She felt fingers thread through her hair and then her head was pulled forward, she sighed when warm lips kissed her forehead. "Why'd you do that?"

"That's what my mom did when ever I got hurt." She held out a hand and pulled Merc to her feet. "Let's go see what ma brought, I'm hungry." They grabbed up the fishing gear and the two fish before heading up to the chalet.

*************

Merc walked out to the kitchen and looked out the small window that faced the lake, what she saw made her pulse race. Dressed in just shorts and a half t-shirt, Finnegan moved under the moonlight in slow precise movements. "You're drooling Merc, you wanna bib?" Tracy handed her a dishtowel and jumped back when a low rumbling growl came from her much bigger friend. "Ya ever seen moves like that before?"

"Just once in a movie, I think she's doing Tai Chi." She leaned closer to the window and sighed. "Wish I could move like that," She backed away from the window when Finnegan dropped down onto the grass and leaned back to stare up at the full moon. "I'm way too bulky to do anything like that." She went towards the door and opened it quietly. "I'm gonna keep an eye on her, I think we're safe but I wanna be..." Tracy gave her a small grin and nodded her head. Merc walked softly so that she made no noise as she got within ten feet of Finnegan, she dropped down to her haunches and peered into the darkness around them.

"What are you looking for Mac?"

"Lightning bugs, crickets and anything that doesn't belong out here." She got up, went over beside her and sat down. "Where'd ya learn to do what you were doing?"

"I took a self defense class a few years ago and then my instructor got me into Tai Chi for a way of relaxing after putting up with kids all day." She turned her head and felt her heart seize in her chest, Merc's eyes shone silver in the moonlight and gave her an ethereal appearance. "What about you and lifting weights, what got you into that?"

"I got tired of being so tall and weighing a 100lb. soaking wet, plus it was hard trying to take down criminals without any muscle." She stood up and offered a hand to Finnegan. "Let's go in, I can hear the skeeters coming for our blood."

"So is there a TV in the chalet or do we sit and look at each other?"

"Ohh yeah, there's a wide screen TV in there. Could you imagine a college age guy without a huge ass TV to watch football on?"

"No, so where is it?"

"Behind that big poster of the Dallas Cowboys, Junior doesn't know about the TV so it gets hidden."

"I don't have to watch football do I?" Merc snorted and shook her head.

"Nope, I hate football. For one, they get paid too damn much and two, they make tooooo much money!" She held the door open for Finnegan and then went over to the refrigerator for a gallon of milk and the canister of muscle builder on the counter. Finnegan found where the poster swung on hinges and gasped at the size of the TV, it reminded her of the front window on her house.

"Damn, this must have cost him a mint and a half!"

"Nope," Tracy replied and handed her the remote control. "We got it from the police auction; it was ripped off and never claimed." She dropped down onto the couch and put her feet on the coffee table. "Next time they have an auction you'll have ta come with us, anything you can think of they have and cheap."

"DVD players, I don't have one and would love to be able to see movies on one?"

"Ohh sure, that and any other electronic thing ya can think of ain't that right Merc…Merc?" She looked over the back of the couch but didn't see her friend. "She must be down stairs pumping more iron." Finnegan looked towards the stairs and then handed Tracy the remote control, she listened first at the door and then went down. She watched from a few stairs up as Merc did tricep curls on the bench, she couldn't believe how the sight of her muscles flexing affected her. She waited until Merc was finished with the tricep curls she was doing and then moved right into dumbbell flies. She went down the steps and stood at the end of the bench watching, when Merc had the dumbbells held out to the side over the edge of the bench, she straddled the bench and sat down on her stomach. Blue eyes popped open and looked directly into mischievous green.

"Do you ever relax, you know sit down, watch TV maybe read a book besides Muscle and Fitness?" She ran her hands up Merc's ribcage and stopped below her breasts. "Listen to music or just vegetate for a while?"

Merc swallowed deeply and shook her head. "Ahhh no…" She jumped when the dumbbells fell from her hands and clattered on the concrete floor. "What are you…doing?"

"Distracting you from working out," She trailed her fingers up across Merc's chest to stop on top of her pecs. "Is it working?"

"Uhh huh…you're playing with fire Fin, you know that right?"

"Yep," She winked and pressed down into Merc. "I like fire, liquid heat, and anything else that makes your blood run like lava." She swung a leg over Merc and walked slowly to the stairs. "Don't stay down here too long." Merc dropped her head back on the bench and groaned, what Finnegan had just done to her had only happened in her fantasies.

"Uuhhmm OK, not long." She covered her eyes and moaned, her body was still tingling from where Finnegan had touched her and she could feel the wetness between her legs. "Just great, now what do I do?" She sat up and whimpered. "Lake, nice long swim in the cold lake." She got up, jogged up the stairs and went out the door. Finnegan and Tracy watched her go out the door and then looked to each other.

"What did you do to Merc?"

"Nothing much, just went down and asked her why she worked out so much." She shrugged her shoulders and gave her a crooked grin. "May have teased her a little bit while I was at it." She raised her half eyebrow and took a deep breath. "Is she seeing anyone, you know a girlfriend or significant other?" Tracy clasped a hand over her chest and fell back in the cushions.

"I can't believe this, I'm truly heartbroken." She sat up and grinned. "Nope, she hasn't seen anyone in a long time. Tell me you're not looking for just a trainer, that would really kill her if that's all you wanted?" Finnegan blinked a few times.

"A trainer, I'm sure I don't know what you mean by that?"

"You know, a trainer as in you've never been with a woman and you're curious and you just want to experience it?"

"No, I don't want a trainer. Why couldn't I just let her lead, you know be the submissive one?"

"Ohh so you're a bottom, that's good cuz Merc's a top." She laughed at the shocked expression on Finnegan's face. "Just kidding, just don't hurt her is all I ask."

"Don't worry, I'd never hurt her. I'm not an insensitive person and I know what it feels like to be hurt both emotionally and physically." She squeezed Tracy's leg and gave her a smile. "Don't worry; I don't think she's even interested in me that way. Remember, I'm sorta the enemy."

"I don't think you're the enemy any more and I think she's interested alright, why wouldn't she be and don't you dare say because you're scared. She sees deeper than that, I know because she's the only one that doesn't think I'm an asshole." She busted up laughing when Finnegan rolled her eyes and changed the TV channel.

**************

Merc surfaced and shook the water from her hair; she tipped her head back and let out a deep shuddering breath before swimming back to the dock. Climbing up, she dropped down and fell onto her back gasping for air. Her swim had tired her out but it did nothing for her libido. She sat up, reached down between her legs, and moaned. "This just ain't right." She got up and wandered off towards the trees that circled the lake, she leaned up against a tree when she could no longer be seen beneath the moon. Sliding a hand down the front of her shorts, she gasped out from the contact. Slowly she stroked her self and moved her hips in tempo; her breathing became ragged with her on coming orgasm. She wrapped her free arm back around the tree and held on as her body shook with release. Minutes later, she withdrew her hand and sunk to the ground. She placed both hands out in front of her, dropped her head and took deep breaths to calm her self. She had always been able to get aroused and reach orgasm quickly and had heard nothing but complaints from her previous lovers. One had even spread it around that she had a problem with being premature and then forgot all about her lover. It wasn't true but it did put a damper on her love life thus making her shy away from any entanglements.

**************

Tracy looked at her watch and got up from the couch; she looked down at Finnegan and grinned. She had fallen asleep clutching Merc's pillow to her chest and snoring softly. She turned the TV off and headed for the stairs, she would leave the moving of the small blonde to Merc whenever she came in. She had just hit the third step when a still soaking wet Merc came in through the sliding glass doors; she looked at her and clicked her tongue. "You are the weirdest person I know and you smell like swamp thing."

"Gee thanks Tracy, just for that I won't take a shower and sleep with you."

"Yeah and I'll scream for help and your girlfriend will come and save me." Merc narrowed her eyes and looked down to where Finnegan was sleeping.

"My girlfriend, you mean Fin, she's not my girlfriend."

"Says you but from what I see when she looks at you, you're handcuffed, booked and oohh sooo lost when it comes to women." She waved a hand at her. "Go take a shower, you have duckweed all over you and…tree moss." She shook her head and went up to bed.

"I wonder if she told her what she did to me?" She asked herself and then went to the bathroom off the kitchen for a shower. A few minutes later, she came out in only a towel and searched for clean clothes, she swore when she realized that they were all dirty. Standing beside the couch, she looked down and tried to figure out how to open the bed and not flip Finnegan on the floor. After a few minutes of using one hand to hold Finnegan against her chest, she had the bed pulled out. Laying Finnegan back down on the mattress, she crawled in beside her and curled around her. The soft snoring lulled her to sleep a few minutes later, she never knew of the small hands holding onto her forearms or a small body pressing back into her.

************

Finnegan woke to feel warm damp flesh beneath her cheek; she searched with her hand and found more warm damp flesh. She opened one eye, looked around her, and saw dark hair falling across a breast. She blinked and opened both eyes to see the same thing and felt at first panic and then curiosity. Going up on one hand, she looked down into Merc's calm face and then down across the expanse of her wide chest. A light blush covered her face when she saw that Merc was completely naked and that she had been lying on top of her. She jumped when Tracy's voice came to her over the back of the couch and then a snicker. "Nothing like waking up and finding out you're stuck to nekkid skin huh?" She threw her head back and laughed when Finnegan's face turned a deeper shade of red. "I'm going for donuts and bagels, anything else we need while I'm out, like a couple bags of ice?"

"Haa I don't think so." She grumbled and then rolled off Merc. "Maybe you could get some blueberry muffins?" She pulled a few bills from her wallet, placed it back down on the counter and held out the bills for Tracy.

"Keep your money; this is being paid for by the State of West by God." She gave her a wave and went out the door chuckling from Finnegan's embarrassment. After making a trip to the bathroom to care take of her needs, she gathered up everyone's dirty clothes and went down to the basement to where the laundry room was. With her first look, she knew that Merc's cousin wasn't one for doing laundry; the appliances looked brand new and hardly used. Starting a load of dark clothes, she went back up stairs to start a pot of coffee and tried to ignore the sight of a naked Merc stretched out across the bed. She failed in this area and was caught staring by a pair of pale blue eyes.

"Where's Tracy," she sat up and rubbed her face with her hands and then tried to get the tangles from her hair. "We need more clothes."

"She went to get donuts and I started a load of laundry," she busied herself with unnecessary cleaning and looked back up when Merc stepped into the kitchen. "You're going to give me a heart attack walking around like that."

"Why I'm only naked and you've seen me before?" Finnegan looked up into twinkling eyes and groaned.

"Do you have any idea what's so ever the effect you have on people when you walk around naked?"

"Nope, Tracy's used to it." She reached up into the cabinet, pulled down three coffee cups and saw Finnegan's eyes shoot wide. "Now what?"

"It's just that I've never seen so many muscles before…on anyone." She reached out and hesitated before she let her fingers run across the muscles of Merc's ribcage. "Can I get this way?"

"Now why would you want muscles like mine, I think you look good just the way you are." She filled two of the cups, handed one to Finnegan and took hers into the bathroom with her. Finnegan spun away from the door when she saw that Merc did not intend to close the door. "Ohh come on Fin you can't be that up tight?"

"I'm not used to people walking around naked or not closing the bathroom door."

"Well, when I was growing up, we didn't have much choice with the bathroom. It didn't have a door on it and the most terrifying thing I ever saw was my skinny ass brother running around naked." She came out of the bathroom and grinned at the still red face of her smaller friend. "He's still a skinny ass little thing and is the only man I know that doesn't fall over when he sees a naked woman."

"But the way he acts around Tracy is…"

"Ohh he just does that because it's her, it's a game they play all the time." She sat down at the table and whistled at Finnegan. "Sit down already you make me nervous when you twitch around."

"You, I'm a nervous wreck cuz you're naked!" She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and sat down at the table across from her.

"Well you weren't nervous last night when you distracted my workout." She got up and headed for the stairs. "If it'll make you happy, I'll see if I can find some of my cousin's clothes." She came back down a few minutes later with an old pair of cutoff sweats and a football Jersey with Macgregor across the back. "This better?"

"Much, at least now I can look at you and not feel like my face is on fire." She looked at the jersey and raised an eyebrow. "How big is your cousin?"

"Ohh he's smaller than me all the way around, he's a running back so he doesn't need the bulky muscle." She pulled on the jersey where it was tight across her chest. "He's muscular but it's more ripped than mine, he gets ribbed all the time about me being bigger than him."

"Is he going to go pro when he's done with college?"

"All depends on if he gets drafted, if not then he'll have his degree in Psychology. Ya know something ta fall back on if the football doesn't give him a career." She turned her head when the phone rang and rolled her eyes, Junior and her ma were only two people that would call her this early. She reached across, grabbed the phone and growled into it.

"You crabby ass wench." Junior's voice came blasting into her ear.

"You fat bastard! Why are you calling me so damn early?"

"Because I wanted ta make your day as bad as mine that's why! My boss wants your ass over at the house to move that damn rock, those fucking brats took down our mailbox again last night." Merc chuckled and winked at Finnegan.

"So she's been bugging you every second since you got up huh?"

"Worse, she's sitting across from me right now giving me that evil eye thing she does. Please Merc, save my rotten ass and move that rock?"

"OK, we'll be over sometime this morning to move it. You want it in front of the post right?"

"Yep, that way they get hung up on it when they try to take out the post. Thanks Merc, I owe you guys." She agreed and hung up the phone.

"We have to go over to Junior's today and move this huge ass boulder, the kids keep taking out his mailbox." Finnegan nodded and refilled their coffee cups.

"How big is it and won't he get in trouble if someone gets hurt?"

"It's huge and he doesn't really care," She shrugged her shoulders. "Two or three times a month he has to replace the post and the mailbox." Tracy came in the door and handed Finnegan the bags she had in her hand and the box to Merc.

"Junior called me on the radio, he wants us to…"

"He just called here, so when do you wanna go over there?" Tracy shrugged her shoulders and dropped another bag on the table.

"When we're done with breakfast I guess." She pulled out two dozen of bacon, cheese and egg biscuits and then twice that amount in hash browns. "MacDonald's hates me now and only three people threatened my life at the bakery."

"Only three?" Finnegan said around a mouthful of blueberry muffin.

"Would have been more but I shoved my badge in this guys face and threatened to arrest him for being an obnoxious fat asshole that should go to weight watchers." She shrugged her shoulders, dropped into a chair and grabbed a biscuit and two hash browns. "He had one donut hanging outta his face, two strudels under his arm and wanted two dozen of 'our' Donuts." Finnegan choked on her coffee and covered her mouth.

"The nerve of him, surprised ya didn't shot his ass." Merc said and grinned when Tracy winked at her.

"Would have but the bullet would have bounced off his blubber, he had to weigh more than my car!"

"Do you two have a problem with overweight people or something?" Fin asked with narrowed eyes.

"Only those who are way overweight and do nothing about it but make it a life quest to get bigger and put their cars through extreme structural testing." Merc replied and grabbed another biscuit.

*************

A set of eyes looked through the window of Finnegan's bedroom and then a gloved hand holding a rock smashed the glass above the locking latch. When no sound of alarm system split the air, the man unlocked the window and pushed up the sash. He had hoped that she wasn't home on one count and on the other wished that she was so that he could take care of her once and for all. He had tracked down Mallory and gone off the deep end when he turned him down flat on finishing the job he was hired to do. Now it was in his hands to take her out of the picture, the only problem was that he had never done anything like this before.

Once he was standing in her bedroom, he looked around and then went into the living room. He needed to find out where she was staying and if she was still under police protection. He had called the local police departments but was told that the information was not to be given out. His phone suffered for the answers he had gotten while searching for her and now he would have to buy a new one. He went into the kitchen and looked at the refrigerator, bulletin board and the papers lying on the kitchen table. Before he was done, every book was tossed across the room, the couch cushions were cut up and anything that wasn't nailed down was trashed. He hadn't come here to tear her home apart but his temper got the better of him. As a last act of frustration, he pissed on her couch and chair.

************

Merc dropped down into the grass and rubbed her biceps with aching fingers; she looked up to Tracy and shook her head. They had moved the boulder to where Junior wanted it and felt like they had carried Tracy's car instead. The hard part was getting it unstuck from where it had been buried in the yard. Instead of carrying it, they had rolled it across the yard and then picked it up to position it. Finnegan had sat with her chin resting on her chest while watching them, she dropped to the grass between them and handed them each a bottle of water. "Will you two need a chiropractor in the morning?"

"Tomorrow, I think I need one now." Tracy groaned and rubbed her lower back. "That son of a bitch needed one of those little bobcats, Junior is gonna owe us for the rest of our lives."

"Speaking of owing," Finnegan said and looked to Merc. "I'll buy lunch if we can run by my place so I can get some more clothes and a few books."

"Uhhmm…how about if we do this, Tracy can drop us off at the restaurant, we order take out and she runs over and gets what you need." She held up a hand when Finnegan started to disagree. "If your house is being watched, then Tracy will know and be able to take care of the problem."

"You're really stating to piss me off with all of this protection shit; I haven't gotten any threatening letters, calls or anything except that peeping tom."

"And that could be because no one knows where you are so they can't do it." Tracy replied and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hopefully we'll have this all solved and Mallory in jail, then you can go back to work and a more normal life."

"And how are you guys gonna solve it if you're babysitting me?" She turned and gave Merc a look that singed her. "Answer that First Sergeant!" Merc sighed and nodded her head, she knew that Finnegan had no idea how things worked or that she had an unorthodox way of doing police work.

"We wire tapped all his relatives, his bank is being watched and an APB has been put out across the wires for all the States. If he shows up anywhere or tries to get to his money, we'll know about it."

"And I'll bring you Donuts when you two get locked up for illegal wire tapping."

"Timmy doesn't like donuts, he likes pop tarts." Tracy said with a grin. "He's doing the tapping with one of his computers; he's ghosting the phone company computers or something."

***********

Tracy opened Finnegan's front door and stopped, what she saw made her blood boil. Grabbing her cell phone, she called the barracks and then Merc. She was glad that it wasn't her that would have to tell Finnegan about her house. She closed the door and then took a seat in front of it to wait for Junior and the crime lab guys to get there. She knew that the chances of who ever had broken into the house leaving behind fingerprints were slim, but to be on the safe side, they would dust anyway.

***********

Merc closed her cell phone and looked to where Finnegan was paying for the Chinese take out they had ordered. She would rather tell her that her house had burned to the ground than tell her that it had been violated. She dropped her head, tried to think of a way to tell her, and knew that no matter how she said it, Finnegan would blow a gasket. When she came back over to where she was sitting on a bench beside the door, she took her hand and pulled her down. "We have a problem; Tracy just called to tell me that someone broke into your house and tore the place up." She covered Finnegan's mouth with her hand when she saw fire erupt in her eyes. "Junior's on his way over there along with the crime lab, if it was Mallory, we'll have his finger prints all over the place and know that he's still in the area. On the other hand, it could be a random thing with kids burglarizing houses in the area. I'll need you to make a list of anything of value and then Junior will look for them."

"This is so fucked up, what did I do to deserve all of this shit that's been happening to me?" She said in a low growling voice and slapped a hand down on the bench. "I don't have anything that's worth stealing, my laptops at the chalet and my other PC is ten years old." Merc shook her head, some things just couldn't be explained and this was one of them.

"I don't know Fin but I promise that nothing will happen to you." She wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against her side.

***************

Tracy stood back from where a lab tech was taking samples from Finnegan's chair, she felt repulsed and pissed off all at the same time. They hadn't found any fingerprints but who ever left his mark, had left behind vital information. The lab would be able to analyze the urine and get a blood typing from it, she would prefer fingerprints to this but it was evidence. She ran a hand through her hair and nodded to Junior who was standing at the front door; she walked over and stopped in front of him. "Did anyone see anything, a strange car coming down the driveway or someone on foot?"

"Nope nothing, the only one around is an old man across the road and he can't see that well."

"Just great, I wish she had an alarm system. If she did then maybe someone would have gotten here and caught the son of a bitch." She looked out towards the road and then back into the house. "You have the number to the place that put in your alarm system handy?" Junior nodded and pulled out his wallet, after looking through it he held out a business card.

"What are you planning Tracy?"

"I'm gonna use your family connection and get her house wired," She grinned and stuffed the card in her pocket. "Then I'm gonna have Timmy make a withdrawal from that asshole Davis' account to pay for it." Junior covered his face and groaned.

"I did not just hear that, I don't know a damn thing do you hear me?"

"Sure do boss, how about a new car for your boss, maybe one of those Porsche 911's?"

"Get out of here Tracy before I have to arrest you for something."

"Give us a call if you find out anything from the lab, I gotta go pick up Merc and Fin at the restaurant." She was thankful that their order would take 45 minutes to complete, if she timed it right, she would be getting there just as they walked out the door.

**************

"Where is she?" Finnegan asked while she shaded her eyes and looked down the street in the direction Tracy would be coming from. "I'm ready to say the Hell with her and start eating!" She sighed and pointed a finger at the speeding car. "She's dangerous; you should give her a speeding ticket!" Merc snorted and grabbed the bags from where they sat on a bench outside the front door of the restaurant.

"Like that would slow her down, we're lucky she doesn't have the top hat and siren going." She cringed at the squeal of tires and honking of horns, at that moment she wished she was invisible. Tracy stuck her hand out the window, flipped the other drivers off and yelled.

"I DON'T HAVE TURN SIGNALS! Fucking assholes drive like they're on the circuit and blow their horns at me?" She looked to a snarling Merc and grinned. "Hey boss been waiting long?"

"No but it's no wonder everyone hates cops, one of these days someone's gonna shot your ass for being nasty."

"They'll get you first 'cuz you're worse than me," She waved a hand at Finnegan. "She gave the District Attorney's mother a jaywalking ticket and showed up in court ta make sure she paid for it." Merc let Finnegan get in before her and then smiled.

"She deserved it the uppity old bitch, wish I could have nailed her on that shop lifting charge but baby boy paid that one off." Finnegan shook her head and then looked between her two friends.

"She's a shop lifter and her son got her out of the charges, what kind of local government do we have here?"

"Crooked as Hell," Merc grumbled. "We get the criminals off the street and the court lets 'em go." Her temper flared when she thought of what had happened so many years ago, she ground her teeth and snarled. "They should all be tossed behind bars and forgotten about." She was ready to go off on a tangent when she felt a warm hand squeeze hers, she turned and looked into soft green eyes and felt her anger fade.

"I'm sorry Mac; I know there's nothing I can do to change the past, all I can do is apologize, I wish I had known back then the truth as to what happened."

"I know and I wish I could let the past go, it's hard." She looked out the window at the passing scenery and felt Finnegan squeeze her hand again but not release it. Tracy kept quiet but kept glancing at her two pensive friends, she could only imagine the pain they felt with their past.

***************

Junior read over the reports from the break in at Finnegan's house; so far, they had nothing on it as far as fingerprints. Numerous ones were found but they all belonged to the three women. He took off his reading glasses, ran a hand over his thinning hair on his pate and blinked his tired eyes. He knew that Merc knew that they wouldn't find anything, even at the entry area they found nothing. The ground outside the window was dry as a bone and left no footprints. As usual, they had no leads, witnesses or a chance in Hell unless someone bragged about breaking into her house. He turned his head and looked out through his door to the troopers who were working at their desks. He knew they did their best but it still pissed him off that they wouldn't face down Mallory. All it would take was one shot to drop the man; he wished that one of them would grow some balls and do it.

"State police can I help you?" Junior over heard one of them say.

"I'm trying to find an officer that helped me this morning," A feminine voice said over the phone. "She was tall with dark hair and a scar down the one side of her face; I called all the other police stations but they she was a state trooper."

"Yes ma'am that's First Sergeant Merci Macgregor, she's not here right now can I give her a message?"

"Just tell her thank you for changing my tire." The woman hung up before the trooper could ask for a name.

"Hey Major, when you see Merc, tell her that the woman she helped this morning said thank you." Junior looked at him as if he was insane.

"Say what, Merc changing a tire?"

"That's what the lady said; she didn't leave a name or anything."

"More like ripping one off without taking the lugs off first, I'll tell her next time I talk to her."

***************

"Merci Macgregor…" The man said in a falsetto voice and cleared his throat before speaking again. "She has to be in here, everyone's in the phone book." He flipped through all the M's until he found a listing for a M. Macgregor. "23 Lynn's Trailer Park, she lives in a trailer? White trash State Trooper, I wonder if Draper is with you at your trailer?" He grabbed his car keys and went out the door; he would track them down if it took him the rest of his life.

***********

Merc came in from outside and looked around for Finnegan, she groaned when she heard cussing and the unmistakable sound of rattling chains and the smack of the heavy bag. She went down the steps and stopped midway down to see Finnegan lashing out with all her fury. What she didn't expect were the roundhouse kicks placed between the punching combinations. The force that Finnegan's foot and shin hit the bag was what made the chain's rattle and knock plaster down onto her head. The last kick she gave to the bag was a reverse spinning back kick that opened the seam that Merc had split even further. "You're a very dangerous woman." Merc said in a deep throaty voice and went the rest of the way down the stairs. "They don't teach that in self-defense classes." Finnegan braced her hands on her knees and lifted her head up to glare at Merc.

"No they don't, when you catch that asshole, I want locked in his cell with him for five minutes!"

"When I catch him, I'll let you beat the shit outta him before we haul him in and if we're lucky, we'll save the tax payers the money it would cost for a trial and his little retirement home." She watched furious green eyes change right before her; she knew that Finnegan wasn't a killer and that the mention of killing the perp would calm her. "Let me see your hands, you're as bad as me. I get so pissed that I forget ta wrap them first." She pulled Finnegan to her feet and held both of her hands gently in her own; she looked down into tear-filled green eyes and pulled her into her body. "After I take care of your hands, we're going for a walk."

"I don't wanna go for a walk, I wanna punch things and scream and yell at the top of my lungs." She wrapped her arms around Merc and sobbed into her chest. "Why is he doing this, what did I do?" Merc rested her cheek on top of Finnegan's crown and whispered

"I don't know Fin but once we catch him we'll know." She held her until her crying stopped and then took her up stairs so she could clean up her scuffed and bruised knuckles. Tracy looked over the back of the couch, winked at Merc and went back to watching the Lifetime channel. She held back her snickers every time Finnegan hissed or growled at Merc. "Come on Merc that hurts like a bitch!" She tried to pull her hand away and bite Merc in her forearm.

"Ohh you bite to huh, ya know that's dirty fighting?"

"Ya and so what, you're torturing me with peroxide, what's next sandpaper to smooth off the roughness?"

"I was thinking alcohol or maybe some iodine." She finished cleaning her hands and then applied some Betadine Plus. She always kept some around because one of them was always being cut or scratched while there. "OK, we're all done except for our walk."

"I'm not walking anywhere, I'm gonna sit here and pout until my lip falls off." Merc narrowed her eyes and then raised her left eyebrow.

"Hey Tracy I need the secret weapon!" She yelled and then threw a hand up to catch the handcuffs that flew towards her. Before Finnegan could blink, she was handcuffed to Merc and dragged out the door.

"This ain't fair, you have those and you're bigger than me!"

"Life's a bitch sometimes and then ya get handcuffed ta one." She grinned and took them around the house towards the lake. "Could be worse, I wanted to go for a nice long run but I'll settle for a walk." She grinned at the expression on Fin's face and pulled her into her side. "Just relax, take deep breaths and listen to the crickets."

"Ohh yeah I can relax when I'm handcuffed to a muscle headed geek." She mumbled but did what Merc said and found that she was relaxing and her anger ebbed even more as they walked in the dusk.

"Ya know losing your temper at a crucial moment can get you hurt or killed, you have to put it aside and think three steps ahead."

"I don't know how to do that, I get mad and everything goes red." She looked up at Merc's profile and felt her heart jump in her chest; her pale blue eyes were glowing silver chips and looked primal. "How do I control it?"

"Push it back," She looked down into dark green eyes and grinned. "And growl, that scares the Hell outta most people and gives ya that split second ya need to take 'em down." She stopped them and turned to face Finnegan. "You do Tai Chi; go into that state of mind where you control your body."

"What do you know of Tai Chi?"

"I read ya know all kinds of stuff that people wouldn't think would interest me. Even memorized some stuff from reading it so many times."

"Yeah such as what?" She stepped closer so that she could see her better in the dark. Merc closed her eyes and tipped her head back.

"Uhhmm…There is no woman's sides can bide the beating of so strong a passion. As love doth give my heart; no woman's heart so big, to hold so much; they lack retention. Alas, their love may be called appetite. No motion of liver, but the palate, that suffer and surfeit, cloyment and revolt. But mine is all as hungry as the sea, and can digest as much: make no compare between that love of a woman can bear me and that I owe Olivia." Finnegan stood with her jaw hanging open, she would never take Merc as one to read Shakespeare let alone memorize full paragraphs.

"Did you memorize all of the Twelfth Night?"

"Yeah, kinda dumb huh?"

"Not at all, what others do you know?" Merc was glad that it was dark out or Finnegan would surely see the dark blush across her high cheekbones.

"King Lear, Much Ta Do About Nothing, Merry Wives of Windsor, Macbeth, Comedy of Errors, but my favorite is Mid Summers Night Dream. I like when the fairy queen gives her speech and then whisks her fairies away from Puck and the others."

"You amaze me, I never thought of you as being a romantic."

"Just living up to my Geeky image." Finnegan took her hand and pulled her along beside her to continue their walk; she was learning more about the tall trooper every minute she was in her company. They continued their walk in a comfortable silence until they found themselves back at the chalet. Finnegan didn't know when she had done it but Merc had unlocked the cuff from her wrist. She held her hand until they stopped outside the door; Merc opened it and let her go before her into the dimly lit chalet.

"About time you two got back, Junior called, he said something that confused the Hell outta me." Tracy got up from the couch and then leaned against the back of it. "When did you change some woman's tire?"

"I haven't changed any tires lately why?" Tracy repeated what Junior had told her and saw Merc's eyes change colors.

"This isn't good," She looked to a worried Finnegan and wrapped an arm around her. "They didn't tell this woman where I am did they?"

"Nope and Junior's gonna try and get the phone number and find out who it was." She saw the silvery glint come across Merc's eyes and held up a hand. "A patrol car is sitting near your ma's house and Junior's staying there tonight."

"This is my fault," Finnegan said in a low whisper. "If you didn't have to guard me none of this would be happening." She pulled away from Merc and went down to the basement. Merc rolled her eyes and went after her.

"Ohh Merc, this is different, the beast calming the beauty." She laughed and fell backwards over the couch to continue watching the History channel.

*************

"Hold on there twerp, don't you dare lay one finger on that bag!" She jumped down the remaining steps and grunted. "Damn that hurts like a bitch!" She limped around the basement but kept an eye on a pissed off Finnegan. "Geez why does it hurt so bad when ya jump and your feet slap the ground." When Finnegan ignored her and pulled back a fist to slam the heavy bag, she jumped in front of her and grunted when she struck her in the stomach. "That felt good," she rubbed her stomach and grabbed Finnegan's fist with her other hand. "Stop already, you hitting me or the bag ain't gonna do any good."

"And why won't it, I wanna hit something!"

"How about some cookie dough ice cream with whipped cream and walnuts, ya can hit that with me and Tracy?" She knew that it didn't reach Finnegan when her eyes stayed a fiery green. "Come on Fin, just because some nut job called the barracks and made up some phony story doesn't mean it's because I'm guarding you. If it is the case it still doesn't matter because this is my job," She pulled Finnegan into her arms and held her tight. "When I was sworn in as an officer of the law, I accepted everything that came with it and that includes taking a bullet to protect someone." She felt Finnegan struggle in her arms and then stop when she was able to look up at her face.

"I don't want you or Tracy to take a bullet for me; I want this asshole found without all of that!"

"It wouldn't be like I haven't been shot before, stings for a little while but gives me hours of party conversation." She released Fin and wiggled her brows. "Wanna see where I got shot, it's quite impressive?" Before Fin could say yes or no, Merc spun, dropped her shorts and pointed to a white scar on her left cheek. "See that, that's where I got shot?"

"Merc, that's a microscopic scar."

"It would be since Timmy shot me in the ass with his BB gun, ma tanned both our asses for that." She jumped when her ass was smacked.

"You're an asshole Merc!" She went towards the stairs and turned to see Merc looking over her shoulder and down at her ass, she groaned and jogged up the steps with the sight of Merc's muscular gluts firmly burned into her retinas.

*****************

Later that night with Tracy sleeping on the opposite end of the couch from Merc, Finnegan grabbed her car keys and snuck out. She didn't know where she was going to go but she just needed to go somewhere and think. She placed Tracy's car in neutral and let it coast backwards from the drive, when she was on the gravel road, she started it up and pulled slowly away.

Tracy twitched and then bolted upright from the couch when she heard the rumbling of her car, she looked around the chalet and then to where her keys had been. "Son of a BITCH!" She shook Merc until she growled and slapped at her hand. "Wake the fuck up Merc, Fin took my car!" She ran to the kitchen and called Timmy, when he answered she growled into the phone. "Low jack my car, Fin just took it!"

"She stole your car and where were you and my muscle headed sister?" He chuckled over the phone and then sobered when he realized how dangerous it could be for Finnegan to be out on her own. "Hold on a minute while I start the program." Tracy looked to see Merc struggling into her Levis; she turned her attention back to Timmy when he said it was a go. "Looks like she's on her way down Rt. 51 towards Rt. 11," He was watching the colored blip that was Tracy's car on the map on his monitor. "She's booking ass Tracy and just made a left at the light and is headed down a back road. Take your cell phone and I'll call you if she changes directions."

"Thanks Timmy I owe ya." She hung up and then slipped her boots on. "She's on the road that runs parallel to Rt. 11, the one where Piggy's is and the pizza shop." They ran out the door and down the steps to Merc's motorcycle, in minutes they were halfway down the road and coming up to a bad intersection. Merc slowed and watched the cars at both sides before speeding through, she didn't want to have her first accident in pursuit of her charge. She would catch Hell from not only her ma but from Junior as well, that is if she and Tracy survived.

********

Finnegan walked into Piggy's, stood inside the dark bar to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, the smell of alcohol, cigarette smoke, and burned food assaulted her sinuses. She looked up towards where a stage jutted out from the wall and watched as a stripper danced for a bunch of drunken rednecks. She had no idea why she had come here, there were better and safer places to go for a drink. The loud music pounded into her body and the yelling of the men made her cringe, she walked up to the bar and yelled over the noise to the bartender. "I wanna bottle of tequila!" The tattooed man grabbed a bottle from the shelf behind him, a shot glass and placed them in front of her without a thought. He grabbed a towel and went back to wiping down the counter and left Finnegan to her bottle. Filling the shot glass, she held her breath and slammed it, filling it again before she swallowed the first one; she swallowed, shivered from the taste and slammed the next. She had never thought of what would happen after she got drunk or if one of the men decided that she was on the menu. When the music changed, she looked over to see another stripper take the stage and then an announcement saying that she would be the last one until the midnight show. She glanced over when someone took the bar stool next to her and then went back to draining the bottle in front of her.

"Never seen no women in here before," A toothless rank redneck yelled in her ear. "Ya come ta play with us horn dogs after the show?"

"Go play with one of your buddies or your self, which ever you prefer." She slurred and slammed another shot.

"Ya must be one of those lesbians or somethin and I ain't stupid or drunk enough ta fight ya over whose more manly." He got up from his stool and stumbled back over to the table where his friends were.

"Good riddance, don't wanna fight no one anyways." She blinked her eyes and knew that she was well on her way to being shit faced. Turning towards the stage, she watched the stripper who was dancing in only her panties shake her tits all over the place. She shook her head and turned back to see her reflection in the mirror behind the bar. "Ain't Merc up there so ain't interested, damn woman can give a eunuch a hard on." She chuckled and slapped a hand down on the bar. "Fucking unbelievable body, rippling muscles and that strip of baby fuzz on her stomach." She dropped her head on the bar and looked up when the bar tender approached. "Hey buddy do I look gay ta you?"

"No ma'am ya sure don't and I think you've had enough tequila."

"I don't, think I might be and nope I sure haven't, gotta dull my brain, think too much." She felt her head wobble and then a hand come down on her shoulder. "Take a hike asshole, I might be gay." She looked up into the mirror and watched her jaw drop open at the sight of furious blue eyes looking back at her. "Hey Mac, ya big muscle headed Goddess."

"You are in deep shit Fin," She dropped down onto the stool beside her and watched Tracy take the one on the other side. "What in the Hell did you think you were doing by sneaking out?"

"Ohh doin what I never did before…ya know what," she wobbled when she turned to look at Merc. "I'm drunk."

"Yeah I can tell," She rubbed her face and looked around at a grinning Tracy. "I think it's time ta get out of here." She rose from her stool and stopped when Finnegan's hand grabbed her wrist.

"Come on Mac, I wanna see…some more strippers…maybe you'd… get up there?" She wiggled her brows and saw a slight grin come to her friends face. "All them…rippling muscles and…flexing tits," She reached out and trailed her fingertips down across Merc's chest. "Gets me wet." Merc just about swallowed her tongue and Tracy choked and spit her water across the bar.

"Revelations brought on by Jose Cuervo," she handed her keys to Tracy, tossed some bills on the bar and scooped Finnegan up in her arms. "Let's go home Fin before the rednecks get restless and we end up in a bar room brawl."

"Ohh come on Mac, I wanna stay fer a lil while!" She wiggled free and staggered across the room. "Ya wants me, come and gets me." She staggered over to a table full of drunks and stopped with her hips leaning against it. Merc growled and walked over to her, as soon as she laid a hand on her shoulder, one of the men pushed her back.

"Hey hands off she's ours!" He pulled Finnegan onto his lap and wrapped an arm around her. "I'm taking blondie here home with me and we're gonna party." He grabbed her breasts with both hands and grinned. Merc grabbed Finnegan, handed her to Tracy and sucker punched the redneck.

"Parties over asshole!" In a split second, the bar erupted into a free for all. Merc tossed men over tables, Tracy punched and kicked and Finnegan clobbered others with a wooden tray she had taken from a waitress. She missed a man on her left side and grunted when he punched her in the side of the face, before she could retaliate, Merc put him down with a left hook. She narrowed her eyes at Fin and back kicked a man coming up behind her. In a matter of minutes, the bar was quiet and only they were standing besides the waitress and the bar tender. The furious man approached Merc and leveled a baseball bat at her.

"I'm callin the cops and you and your friends are gonna pay for all the damages!" Merc gave him an evil grin, pulled on a chain around her neck and dangled her badge in front of his beady eyes.

"Go ahead and call them and then I can get you closed down for serving liquor to a minor! My friend is 20 years old and you served her tequila!" She scooped Finnegan up, flipped her over her shoulder and stomped from the destroyed bar with a bruised, battered and limping Tracy following. When Finnegan was slumped in the front seat of Tracy's car, Merc searched her pockets until she found the keys.

"You're so…butch…I ain't 20 neither." She slurred and rolled her head towards Merc and wiped at the blood running down her chin. "Bleedin and lips fat…wanna do a…crevice check?"

"What I want to do to you would end up with me in a cell." She closed the door and waved at Tracy who was riding her bike back to the chalet. "Junior's gonna chew on my ass and ma's gonna kick what's left." She mumbled before she got into the car. Fin moved across the seat and leaned up against her side, she lurched against her when she pulled out on the road.

"Would ya paddle me," she asked and ran a hand up Merc's thigh. "With a wooden…spoon?" She leaned up to her ear, bit her earlobe and ran her tongue around the outer edge before she fell into Merc's lap passed out cold.

"You tease me and then pass out after getting me all excited, just my luck." She thought back over what Finnegan had said in the bar and grinned, she looked down at the blond head resting in her lap and wondered if it was all true. "I guess 'I might be gay' is better than nothin."

************

Finnegan ran her fingers across high cheekbones while keeping her eyes on the silvery ones before her, the press of silky naked flesh sent her blood roaring through her body. None of the men that she had been with could compare to the feeling of Merc's body pressing against her or the feelings her hands caused. Every fiber of her body cried out when Merc lowered down over her and brought their lips together for the first time. A low moan rumbled in her throat from the warm tongue that tangled with hers and then a strange but familiar voice assaulted her. "Hey Fin want some nice greasy eggs and burnt bacon?" Green eyes blinked open and then slammed shut when the light pierced her hung over brain.

"Turn the spot light off!"

"Ain't no spot light twerp," Tracy said and peeled an eyelid open. "Come on Fin, if ya eat then you'll feel better." Fin pulled her pillow over her head and whimpered.

"You just wanna see me hanging on the toilet tossing my cookies until I pass out." She lifted one side of the pillow and looked into twinkling eyes. "Where's Mac so I can slug her?"

"She went to the barracks for a while and then I think she was gonna run by home and then check on her ma and brother." She smiled brightly and puffed out her chest. "You're lucky, I'm sympathetic ta hang over victims and Merc likes ta yell for torture." She walked over to the stereo and turned the volume up until the front of the speakers bounced. Finnegan clapped her hands over her ears and fell from the bed in pain.

***********

"OK Junior what have we got on the lab reports from Fin's house?" Merc asked as she sat down with some difficulty in the chair across from his desk.

"What do ya think, I forced this through?" He asked without looking up from a file he was looking at. "I'll have you know that I may be the all powerful God of State Troopers but even I can't get the lab to work faster." He looked up and winced when he saw her face. "But if I sent them a picture of you as a threat of what I can do, I might get things faster," He leaned closer. "Who ran over your face?"

"A dozen or so drunken rednecks," she ran a finger across the bruise below her bottom lip and the split at the corner. "Fin escaped last night and we found her at Piggy's, I sucker punched a drunk and it turned into a…"

"Gigantic brawl with you and Tracy right in the middle." He dropped his head on his desk and groaned.

"Fin helped, she busted a few heads with a tray and that was after half a bottle of tequila. She was still sleeping when I left, hope she has a Hell of a headache. She kicked and moaned and groaned all night…" She saw Junior's expression change when he lifted his head and knew she had said too much. "What, I didn't do anything?"

"Ohh so sleeping with the woman you're supposed to protect isn't too much, what's wrong with you?"

"Hey it's your cabin…chalet…what ever and you know damn well there's only two beds. It's either sleep with Tracy or Fin, Tracy snores and runs in her sleep like a dog. So I took the lesser of two evils and that's Fin." An evil smirk came to his face; he now had something on Tracy to keep her in line.

"Runs like a dog, I'll have to remember that. And yes I have the report from where the perp pissed on Fin's couch and chair," He handed it to her and leaned back in his chair. "I stayed with Aunt Marina last night and I feel like I gained 20 pounds, I wish she would teach my boss how to cook like that." Merc looked down at his bulging gut and rolled her eyes.

"If ma taught her how to cook like her, you'd be dead from over eating." She stood up and waved the folder at him. "I'm gonna make copies of this and leave the originals with our PA." She waved again and went over to the room where their copy machine was.

"She's the main reason why I'm losing my hair!" He pulled on what little he had on top.

***********

Tracy snickered and looked back down at her plate; trying to choke down aspirins with her coffee, Finnegan failed to take a drink every time she raised the cup to her lips. The face she made when the pills melted in her mouth had Tracy choking on her eggs and slapping herself on her chest. She cleared her throat, wiped tears from her eyes and handed her a bottle of spring water. "Try this, it'll help with your headache and rehydrate your body. Ya know that's the main cause of hang overs, the alcohol depletes all the electrolytes from ya and if ya drink a lot of water before ya pass out then ya won't feel so bad the next morning." Finnegan gave her a snarl and drank more of the water.

"Sounds like you've had a lot of experience."

"Not much, drinking's bad fer ya. Makes ya do stupid stuff and causes accidents." She finished her breakfast and handed Finnegan a plate with dry toast on it. "Go ahead and try an eat something, it'll help calm your stomach some."

"I was thinking of just using your gun and putting myself outta my own misery." She groaned and dropped her head down on crossed arms and tried to ignore the mariachi band in her head. "My face hurts like a bitch; did Mac smack me last night?"

"Merc would never hit you no matter what ya did ta her, she's never hit another woman in her entire life. That bruise on your jaw is from some redneck, he punched ya during the brawl." Finnegan lifted her head and looked at Tracy with wide eyes.

"What brawl…Ohhh I didn't cause a brawl last night did I?" Her memory of the night before was foggiest at best, she knew she had said or done something to Merc and assumed that's where the bruise had come from. Now she felt like a complete asshole for even thinking of Merc in that light.

"Well not exactly, you made Merc go over to a table of drunks to get you. One of them grabbed your tits so she knocked him out, after that it was a free for all." Finnegan got up from the table, pressed one hand to her aching head and went to the door. "Where ya going?"

"I'm gonna go drown myself in the lake."

"OK, I'll call ya when lunch is ready." Tracy snickered at her moan and started cleaning up the breakfast dishes. She went back over to the stereo and cranked up the volume before continuing with the clean up. She looked down at her bruised knuckles and sighed, after their fight the night before, she realized that even working out a few times a week didn't use the muscles she had during a fist fight.

*************

"Where are they," The man asked himself and looked closer through the window at the back of Merc's trailer. "They have to be here, they're not at Drapers so this is the only other place." He used a screwdriver and tried to pry the window open, giving up; he used the handle and broke the glass. Unlocking the sash, he pushed it up and fell through the window into Merc's living room. He looked around and saw how basic she lived, looking through the books on her coffee table; he grunted and pushed them to the floor. "Damn woman reading magazines that are written for men, she must be one of those lesbians!" He had just finished ransacking her bedroom when he heard a rumbling coming closer to the trailer and then silence. He peeked out the window just in time to see Merc remove her helmet and head towards the door. He slid the bedroom window open and fell out onto the ground with a thump. Looking for a place to hide, he took off at a clumsy jog towards a thin strip of trees.

"God damn mother fucking son of a bitch!" Merc slammed a fist into her door and shook it a few times to get feeling back in her numb fingers. Grabbing her cell phone from her belt, she called Junior and the crime lab guys. When she was finished, she called her ma and told her to keep the doors locked and if anyone came near her driveway to shoot them. She then called Tracy to make sure that they were OK and to keep an eye out for anyone that didn't belong around there. "When we catch you, Fin will have to fight me to be able to beat the shit outta you!" She went back out the door and sat on her deck to await Junior.

*************

Tracy hung up the phone and went over to the kitchen window to check on Finnegan, she felt better when she saw her sitting right below the window in a lawn chair with a blanket wrapped around her. She would wait until Merc got back and let her tell Finnegan about her trailer being broken into, she didn't worry about her own place because what ever he did to it would be an improvement. Going upstairs, she grabbed her shoulder holster and checked to make sure that her .9mm was loaded and that the compartments on the other strap had full clips in them. She didn't know if it would be necessary but it was always better to be prepared than not. Dropping down onto her bed, she pulled her laptop from its bag and booted it up, she had an idea and needed Timmy's help. Hooking her cell phone to phone line and the modem jack, she sent an e-mail to Timmy about searching hospital records for Mallory's blood type. They would compare those results to the ones they were expecting back from the urine specimen at Finnegan's. When Merc got back, she would tell her of her idea and what she had asked Timmy to do, she hoped it panned out and if not then nothing was lost.

**************

Merc double-checked the perimeter censors around her ma's yard and then set one off to make sure that it registered inside. She nodded, waved a hand at her ma and Timmy when she heard the alarm go off over the walkie-talkie she held in her hand. The alarm could not be heard outside so as to not send who ever had set off on the run; it did send a signal to the trooper's barracks to respond to a break in unless ma or Timmy called them. It was similar to the alarm systems other people had except this was Timmy's own design. It was one thing she was thankful for, she had her own Mr. Gizmo for a brother and he took special care in protecting their ma. She walked back up to the house and handed her brother the walkie-talkie. "So it's all set up to go off the second anything above a German shepherd comes in the yard?" Timmy nodded his head and pointed to the motion detector lights.

"I've got those rigged so that we can hit them on from in here and as an added bonus, once the alarm goes off, if the fucker touches any of the doors or windows, his ass gets a nice 2500 jolt of juice." He saw the narrowed look come across his sister's face and knew what she was thinking. "It only works from outside so don't worry," He polished his nails on his shirt and gave her a bright smile. "I tested it out myself…"

"And had a headache fer a week!" Ma slapped him in his head and pulled Merc into a hug. "Don't worry about us, if anyone shows up, I'll send Timmy's robot out to maul them." Merc kissed her cheek and then gave her brother a hug.

"I don't care if a dog barks, you call me no matter what time it is and we'll be here." She wouldn't leave until they agreed, one thing they all were was stubborn and unless she had a pinky swear she would bug them until she got what she wanted. She jogged to her bike and revved the engine until her ma gave her a glare and pointed a finger at her. Pulling out into the road, she took off towards the chalet.

********

The day was cooler than normal; Finnegan wrapped the blanket tighter around her shoulders and stood on the dock looking out at the small white caps rolling across the water. Her headache was still present but it wasn't pounding like before, the fresh clean air had helped clear the fogginess and she was remembering bits and pieces from the night before. A small groan came from her lips when the memory of biting and licking Merc's ear came to her. She felt her blush run up her face and wondered how she would be able to face the tall woman. "Sometimes you can be such an idiot." She jumped and almost fell in the lake when a deep sultry voice rumbled in her ear.

"Why would ya say that Fin?" Merc pulled back and looked down into darkening eyes.

"Because I am," She felt her heart seize when silvery blue eyes captured hers, she felt her body lean forward and then Merc's body heat replace the fallen blanket. "I'm gonna do something really stupid right now." She whispered as she reached up to place a hand at the back of Merc's neck, pull her head down and bring their lips together. What started out as just a press of lips became more when Finnegan wrapped both arms around Merc's neck and ran her tongue across her warm moist lips. Fire erupted between them when Merc opened her lips and accepted the deep kiss, she moaned and pulled Finnegan into her body and took control. Hearts pounded erratically and pulses raced. Deep moans rumbled between them and then ragged breathing when they parted, Merc rested her forehead against Finnegan's until she felt blunt fingernails scratch the back of her neck. She opened her eyes to see fiery green looking up at her and knew she was lost; she lowered her head and felt her head spin from the kiss.

************

"Ohh for Gods sake, I can't believe it!" Tracy said from where she stood looking out the window. "The twerp made the first move! Poor Merc, she's gonna die right on the spot!" She let out a yell and danced around the kitchen, she knew it was bound to happen. The sparks that flew between the two even when they were disagreeing couldn't be ignored for long. She stopped dancing long enough to grab the phone and dial. "Ma ya won't believe what Merc's doing!"

***********

Merc moaned, broke the kiss and fell on her ass gasping. Her eyes rolled in her head and she fell back in the grass with a hand over her heart. "Damn woman but you can kiss." She gasped out and opened one eye to see Finnegan sinking to her knees and then straddling her hips. "Ohh please Fin…I have this…"

"If you say girlfriend I will pummel you to death right here." She growled and placed her hands on either side of Merc's head.

"No, it's…Ohhh Gods I have never…"

"If you tell me you're a virgin I'll pummel you." Merc rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Hardly…I get…aroused quick and…"

"So you're saying that just touching you gets you wet?" She said in a low voice right next to Merc's ear and then ran her tongue up the side of her neck, nipped her ear lobe and cupped her sex with one hand. She jumped when Merc bucked under her and grunted out against her neck, she raised her head and looked down to see her with a hand over her eyes. "Mac?" It hit her as to what had just happened; she raised an eyebrow and peeled Merc's fingers back from her face. "Don't worry about it Mac, it happens sometimes." She leaned down, brought their lips together in a soft kiss, and then lifted her head.

"Fin, it happens all the time, every single time." She tried to roll away from Finnegan and found it impossible when a smaller hand turned her face back and luminous green eyes stared down at her.

"It doesn't bother me Mac," she looked up when she heard a piercing whistle and saw Tracy waving and then giving her hand motions saying that she was going for a drive. "Let's go up to the chalet."

She whimpered and covered her face with her hands. "I can't go up there, Tracy will tease me!"

"She's leaving right now so let's go and we'll talk about this."

"What's ta talk about, I get wet at the drop of a hat and I'm always premature."

"You asked for it Mac." Finnegan pulled her shirt over her head and dropped it on Mac's face, she then got up and stood above her and waited for her to look. "I have never done this before Mac."

"I know and I don't know what you want with me, I suck in bed."

"I hope so; it'd be a lot different from what I've experienced in the past."

"What ya need a bad experience or something?" Finnegan blew out a breath and ground her teeth in frustration; she kicked Merc in her leg until she took her hands from her face.

"That's not what I meant you muscle head!"

"Mercy." She mumbled and took in the expanse of golden skin from waistband to firm breasts, licking her lips, she let her eyes travel up to see Finnegan looking down at her with hungry eyes.

"I have never said this to anyone before, I want you Merci Macgregor." She stepped over Merc, walked towards the chalet, and hoped that she followed. She let out a yell when Merc picked her up and ran towards the chalet.

**************

Ma clapped a hand over her chest and looked to Timmy. "My innocent little baby girl having sex!" Timmy fell off the couch laughing and slapped Tracy's ankle.

"Innocent baby nothin!" He crawled back up on the couch and waved a hand at the family picture on the end table. "Who was it that got caught by store security having wild monkey sex in the back seat of your car behind Wal-Mart? And no less than with the Apple Blossom Queen of Winchester!" Ma chuckled and winked at him.

"You're just jealous cuz you were the one drooling all over the girl and your sis got her." Tracy leaned forward and looked at ma with wide eyes.

"Merc was with the AB Queen, she's married with like four kids! Y'all pulling my leg aren't ya?"

"Nope, Merc's not as innocent as she want's everyone ta believe," Ma said and started ticking off names with her fingers, and when she was done; Tracy's jaw was on the floor. "Merc was a big old muscle headed slut, I'm still tryin ta figure out why they avoided her like the plague after she slept with 'em?" Timmy busted out laughing and slapped his legs.

"Ma, Merc's got that premature ejaculation problem." He saw the startled look on both women's faces and grinned. "So ya guys didn't know that huh, Merc's more male then ya thought." He scratched his stubbled head and shrugged his shoulders. "That's why they all ran off and why she hasn't dated in so long, maybe Fin can help her?" Tracy leaned forward and looked into Timmy's blue eyes.

"And you know this how; I can't see Merc giving out that kinda personal info?"

"Hey I just ain't anybody ya know, it was my egg that split in two and made Merc. I know her better than anyone does, we got that twin link and I know when she's havin problems. Plus I asked her after I heard all the rumors, just don't tell her that I told ya'll, she'll kill me."

"I can't believe we're discussing my daughter's sex life," Ma said and then got up from the couch. "You guys hungry, I've got some shrimp, chicken wings and potato wedges?"

*********

Merc stood at the bathroom counter with her head lowered; she couldn't look at her self in the mirror. Her problem had always been a huge embarrassment for her; she didn't know how Fin could not be disgusted with her. All her other partners had shown her their disgust by storming from her bedroom or ordering her from theirs. She wondered if she could stay in the bathroom long enough that Finnegan would fall asleep and she wouldn't have to embarrass herself like she had done down by the lake. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with Finnegan, her feelings for the smaller woman had been growing day by day. Just looking at her brought her pulse rate up and made her mouth go dry. "You're falling for her and you damn well know it Merc, but she'll take off just like all the rest." She sighed and rested her head on the cold countertop.

Finnegan pounded on the bathroom door and yelled at Merc to stop hiding and get her ass out of the bathroom. She had an idea of what Merc was going through and might know the cause of it. It wasn't a physical problem; it was more of an emotional one. She recalled what she had learned while taking college courses on psychology. The Jung/Freud battles that happened in class all the time is what reminded her of what was going on with Merc. "It's something you have to face Merc." She whispered to herself and pounded on the door again. "Come on Merc, come out here and talk to me!"

"No, I can't talk about this!" Finnegan went to the silverware drawer and got out a butter knife, in two seconds, she had the bathroom door open and stood behind her tall friend. "Now get in the living room and sit your ass down, if you don't I'm gonna kick your ass all the way out there!"

With her head still down, she mumbled. "You ain't big enough to do that."

"Ohhh that did it Macgregor!" She grabbed Merc's ear and dragged her from the bathroom. "Don't ever cut on me about being little, I hate it and I will kick the shit outta anyone who says it! Now sit your ass down before I get really pissed!"

"I don't wanna talk about this…"

"To fucking bad Mac, I do and I don't give a damn what you think afterwards!" Finnegan stood across from where Merc sat slouching on the couch and felt her insides melt, her feelings ran deep for the tall trooper. She had never felt the connection that she did for Merc with anyone else, she knew it wasn't from spending almost 24 hours a day with her, it ran deeper and closer to the fact that they shared the same kind of history, they were survivors. "Your problem doesn't bother me, what bothers me is that you won't let me help you."

"You can't help me; it's just the way I am." She mumbled and slipped further into the couch cushions.

"Bull shit Mac," She straddled her thighs and placed both hands on either side of Merc's head. "This isn't a physical problem, I know because I'm just the opposite." She waited for Merc to look up at her and gave her a small smile.

"Opposite of what…Ohhh, sorry."

"What's to be sorry about, sex sucks with men." She grinned at Merc's quiet chuckle and moved off her. "You probably never experienced it so take my word for it, it's the grossest thing anyone can do. Damn nasty ass thing flopping out at ya, what they want ya to do with it and having ta look at their hairy asses when they get up." She shivered and peeked over to see the horrified look on Merc's face. "I'd rather look at Timmy's skinny naked body running through the house."

"EEWWWW! If that's not something to make you run screaming into the night or becoming a nun, I don't know what is. At least Timmy isn't hairy and always sprinted so we couldn't really see anything, I think he was afraid that I'd laugh." She looked down at her hands and then back up to Finnegan. "We make some pair huh, now all we need is a nympho and we'll have hit some major problems in the sex department."

"Well, at least with what happens to you, you get some enjoyment out of it."

"Ohh yeah, a whole two seconds worth and then nothing. Except for seeing who ever I'm with haul ass afterwards." Finnegan moved closer to her and turned her head so that they were eye to eye.

"You were with a bunch of asses just like I was, you're not the type to just say 'that's it I'm done' and leave. All the men I was with in the past played the one-way street game."

"And how do you know I'm not the type ta do that, I might be?" Finnegan traced a fingertip down Merc's cheek to stop at her lips; she ran her fingertip back and forth until she closed her eyes.

"Because if you were, you wouldn't have followed me in here." She leaned into her body and rose just high enough to bring their lips together, kissing her gently, she mumbled in between each one. "Just relax…don't worry about anything…I'm not going to run out on you for any reason."

"But what about…"

"Ahhh ahhh, I said not to worry about anything. Just know that I want you and nothin you do will disappoint me."

"But Fin…" Finnegan cut her off when she pushed her sideways on the couch and pushed her t-shirt up above her breasts. "OK…Ohhh Mercy!" She gasped out when her nipples were rolled between small fingers. "Fin…"

"Just going with instincts Mac, just my instincts." She lay down across Merc's chest and captured her lips in a hungry kiss that left them both panting. When Merc started to tense up, Finnegan backed off and held her face between her hands. "Relax and help me pull the bed out."

"You really know how to ruin the mood don't you?" Merc grumbled and got up from the couch; she hip checked Finnegan and grinned when she pushed her over on the floor.

"You're too slow."

"That's not what I usually hear," She ducked the couch cushion that Finnegan swung at her and crawled to a safe area. "I must be getting old or something." Just then, the phone rang, they looked to each other and ran for it. Merc grabbed it, yelled "Go to HELL!" And let the receiver fall to dangle by the cord.

"Who was it?" Finnegan asked and went for the receiver.

"Don't know, don't care and no more interruptions." She picked Finnegan up, carried her across to the partially pulled out bed, she fell back with Finnegan on top and rolled them over forcing the foot of the bed to drop to the floor. "You're driving me nuts and if we don't do something soon I'll take matters into my own hand." Finnegan groaned and shivered with the picture that went through her head, wetness seeped from between her thighs to soak into her shorts. She pulled Merc down and took her lips in a deep consuming kiss and felt her t-shirt being pushed up over her breasts, she pulled back to let Merc remove her shirt and then watched Merc's come off. Her breath caught in her throat like it always did when seeing the muscular body; she put her hands out to caress the silky flesh and saw blue eyes turn silver. She placed her hands on the sides of Merc's face and shook her head.

"Slow down Mac, we have all night." She moaned when moist lips kissed the side of her neck and rough breathing warmed her skin, calloused hands trailed down from her shoulders to stop at her hands. Entwining their fingers, Merc brought their joined hands above Finnegan's head. She lifted her head and gazed down with eyes barring her soul.

"This is different for me because I have feelings for you, I didn't with the others." She saw Finnegan's eyes fill with tears; she leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her lips. "That's a good thing Fin." She kissed her again but with everything that she felt for her, their tongues twined and soft moans rumbled between them. Merc could feel her body reacting to Fin's soft moans, the texture of her skin pressed against her and the wetness coming through Finnegan's shorts that she felt on her thigh. She raised her head, looked into her green eyes and felt herself calm. She lowered her head and nuzzled firm breasts, lavishing each one with the same attention while sliding her shorts down over her hips and off.

Finnegan was feeling things that she had never felt before; her body was warm and tingling. Her center was throbbing and she could feel warm juices flowing from within, she was a little nervous that what had happened in the past with others, would happen again. The second they penetrated her, she felt pain and dried up. She held her breath and then let it out forcefully when Merc licked the crease between her thigh and left outer lip. That was something that no one had ever done for her as well, no man had ever given her oral sex in any form. She clutched the covers in her hands and raised her hips when Merc's shoulders moved her thighs further apart; she gasped and thrust upward against her tongue. "Mac…Jesus…!" She thrust harder and then groaned when Merc stopped. "MAC!"

"Fin." She looked up, gave her a crooked grin and dragged the flat of her tongue from her center up to flick her engorged clit. She continued to lick and then sucked until Finnegan was thrashing against the mattress. When she felt her muscles tense, she slipped a finger inside of her and slowly moved it in and out amazed at the amount of wetness flowing from her lover to cover her hand.

Finnegan felt her lover's long finger slip inside of her; she went up on her elbows and thrust harder. Her head fell back when a tidal wave came from the tips of her toes and traveled through out her body, bright lights shot behind her closed eyelids, she yelled out Merc's name and collapsed against the mattress. Shock waves coursed through her body, and made her tremble uncontrollably; she felt warm moist skin press against her and opened her eyes to see feverish blue above her. "I'm not dead?"

"Far from it Fin," She leaned down and kissed her deeply; she heard Fin moan from the taste of herself on her lips and tongue and almost went over the edge. She had forgotten about her own needs and just concentrated on what she needed to share with her lover. Now she was losing ground fast and didn't know if she would be able to control her self. She whimpered and broke the kiss; Fin saw the strain on her face and rolled her to her side.

"I need you." She whispered and felt warm lips trail down across her chest. "I can't…hold on." She whimpered and gasped when Fin rolled her to her back, pulled her shorts off and dropped her face between her thighs; she grabbed the covers and gripped them in her fists. She yelled out Fin's name with her orgasm and yelped when sharp teeth bit down on her clit. She sat up and looked down into a grinning face. "HEY!" She fell back, moaned and thrust her hips when Fin flicked her clit with the tip of her tongue. She felt her body starting to move towards another orgasm and then stop, Fin slowly licked each outer lip and placed soft kisses afterward. Licking her lover's juices from the insides of her thighs, she then slipped a finger between her lips and into her center. Pulling it out, she watched her lover's stomach muscles clench and her hips rise. Leaning forward, she flicked the end of her clit and took up the tempo of her finger. With in a minute, Merc was straining. Her thighs trembled, fingers clenched the covers and then she went over the edge with a loud yell. Juices poured from her center to cover her lover's fingers and drip down into the covers. She laid gasping, hips thrusting with each spasm and reaching for Finnegan with one hand. "Come here." When she felt Finnegan lay across her heaving chest, she wrapped her arms around her and held her tight. "I've never felt anything like that before." She opened her eyes to see tears trailing down her lover's face, wiping each one with a fingertip; she placed a soft kiss to each cheek and then her lips. "Are you OK?" Fin gave her a small smile and nodded her head.

"Better than OK, I think I'm in love with you." Merc looked into her eyes and saw straight to Fin's soul, a small glimmer at first and then brighter as she watched. She felt drawn in and then warmth surrounded her heart when she figured out that her feelings for Fin were the same, she rolled them to their sides and whispered in a choked voice.

"You have my heart Fin; I'm in love with you." She laid her head on her lover's shoulder; it was the first time she had ever felt complete with someone or satisfied both physically and emotionally. She ran her hands down Fin's body and felt her shiver, for the remainder of the day and night; they made love until they collapsed from exhaustion.

************

Tracy threw her hands in the air and looked over to ma and Timmy who were grinning like idiots. "It's still busy; she must have left it off the hook after telling me ta go ta Hell last night." She dropped down into a kitchen chair and picked up her coffee cup. "Wonder if it's safe ta go back, there's no way I wanna walk in on those two doing the nasty." Ma shivered with the picture that formed in her mind, it wasn't the sex part but that it was her baby. It didn't matter how old her kids were, they were still and would ever be her babies.

"Thanks Tracy, that's what I want running through my head while at work."

"Yeah thanks my queen gives me ideas for the PC game I'm designing." He got up and went down the basement steps in a hurry.

"Please tell me he's not making a porno PC game with his sister as the main character?"

"He better not be Merc will kill him for sure then." Tracy groaned when her cell phone vibrated on her hip, she answered it and rolled her eyes.

"OK Junior, I'll let her know and no I'm not there I'm a ma's mooching food." She hung up the phone and blew out an aggravated breath. "Junior's been tryin ta call us since last night; they found a car down in Kentucky that was reported stolen from Martinsburg. They've got a body in the trunk and no idea who it is."

"So does that mean ya have ta go to Kentucky?"

"Don't say that ma, that's a long ass drive and with my luck, it's in one of those places where they falsely arrest women and toss ya in one of those unknown jails."

*************

Merc lay on her side next to her sleeping lover; she ran a fingertip over the Tinker Belle tattoo that was right above her soft strip of curls. A grin came to her face when she noticed that her wand was pointing downward and small sparkle like designs fell from the end. "Whatcha doin Mac, playing with my Tinker Belle?" Mac raised a dark eyebrow and gave her a crooked grin.

"I played with that earlier now I'm playing with your tattoo." She moved up to rest her head on Finnegan's shoulder and wrap an arm around her. "I'm hungry, we got any food left?"

"Don't know, I think we cleaned out the left overs last night." She rolled to her side and brought their lips together in a passionate kiss. "My body's never reacted like it did last night or this morning," She pushed her hips into Merc and grinned at her low moan. "Never had an orgasm until last night ya know," She ran a fingertip over her lover's chin and down to the hollow of her throat. "Thought the top of my head came off a few times."

"Well that makes two of us, never howled like that before either, I think I scared all the dogs in the area." She gave her a soft kiss and hugged her tightly to her body. "I love you Fin."

"Love you too now ya gotta feed me."

"Ohh for the love of…, who knows what, stop with the mushy stuff already!" Tracy dropped four bags from Burger King on the kitchen table. "I brought food but before either one of you gets anything, I'm kicking Merc's ass!" She came into the living room with a bottle of water in her hand and poured it on Merc's head. "That's fer telling me ta go to Hell and then not hanging the phone back up and to get back at ya even more. I told ma and Timmy that you two were humping like rabid rabbits down by the lake!" She ran up the stairs and hid in her room until she heard Merc laughing, she peeked over the railing and down at her. "Ya ain't mad?"

"Nope, I can imagine the look on ma's face. She probably looked like she was about to keel over and told you that I'm her innocent baby girl." Fin tweaked a nipple.

"Innocent my ass, ain't an innocent bone in your body." She grabbed the sheet and wrapped it around her body. "I'm getting food; you want some ya gotta beg for it."

"Beg fer it huh?" She got up from the bed, stretched her arms up over her head and flexed her muscles. When green eyes widened, she knew she wouldn't have to beg for anything except maybe mercy later. "Save some for me twerp, Tracy you had better have brought enough to feed all of West by God Virginia."

"Ohh don't worry, I ate at mas, and she makes the best omelets!" She came down the steps rubbing her stomach and groaned at Merc flexing. "Will you stop already; I don't need to see your leopard spots bouncing all over your chest." Merc winked at her and grabbed her shirt from the floor.

"Ain't leopard spots, its flea and bat bites. Ya know we got vampire bats down by the lake?"

"Yeah and the smallest ones name is Finnegan Macgregor." Fin threw an empty water bottle at her and pointed a finger at Merc.

"Get in here before I eat all the food and leave you starving and when did I change my last name?" She looked to a smirking Tracy and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey your eyebrow grew back!" She remarked and hoped that Fin wouldn't notice that she changed the subject.

"When Tracy, last time I looked at my driver's license it said Draper?" Tracy ducked down behind the bar that separated the two rooms and whispered.

"Ma said you guys gotta get married or the Macgregor banshee will scream for all of eternity." Fin turned to her lover and wiggled a hand at her.

"Explain Mac or little Mac suffers." She grinned when Tracy howled and ran out the sliding glass doors.

"Ma and her banshees, we're Scottish not Irish. She steals from the Island when it suits her."

"Scottish huh, so do ya wear a kilt?" Merc shook her head and pointed a finger at her.

"There's no way in Hell anyone will ever see me in a kilt let alone anything without legs in it. Besides, my surname isn't one that ya mention in the highlands let alone Ireland. My family was banished hundreds of years ago and it wasn't until the late1700's that we could go back ta using the name Macgregor." She grabbed a bag off the table and ran for the bed; she stopped halfway and looked inside. "Hey this ain't fair!" She pulled out packets of condiments and growled when Fin waved a biscuit at her.

"You tell me the story and I'll share all this food."

"Damn ma and Tracy, alright." She sighed and dropped down onto the bed. "From what's been passed down through the family, In April 1603 James VI issued an edict proclaiming the name Macgregor, Ealtogidder abolished, meaning that those who bore the name must renounce it or suffer death. Macgregor along with 11 of his chieftains were hung at Edinburghs Mercat Cross in January 1604. Clan Gregor was scattered, many taking other names, such as Murray or Grant. Rob Roy Macgregor, born in 1671, a younger son of Macgregor of Glengyle, had to take his mothers name of Campbell. The persecution of Clan Gregor ended when laws against them were repealed 1774."

"Hold on there Mac that tells me diddly. Why was your name outlawed there's got to be more?" She handed her a bag with biscuits in it and sat down beside her. "I can't see how someone can just say 'ya can't use your name no more!"

"You're not gonna let this drop are ya?" She sighed when Fin grinned and shook her head. "Alright, off ta ancient history for the history teacher. The Clan Gregor held lands in Glenstrae, Glenlochy and Glenorchy. The first chief was Gregor of the golden bridles. Gregors son, Iain Camm One-eye, succeeded as the second chief sometime before 1390. After that, Robert the Bruce granted the barony of Loch Awe, which included much of the Macgregor lands, to the Chief of the Campbell's. In common with many royal gifts of the time, it was left to the recipient to work out how he would take possession of it. The Campbell's terrorized the Macgregor's who were forced to move deeper into their lands until they were largely restricted to Glenstrae. Ian of Glenstrae, the second of his house to be called the Black, died in 1519 with no direct heirs. The Campbell's supported the succession of Eian, can't remember who the Hell he was related to but he's there. And this is what pisses me off, even though they murdered us, we fought for the king during the civil war. But to get the clan pride back and our name they all had ta re-establish the chiefs. 826 Macgregor's signed a petition that declared General John Murray of Lanrick to be the proper and true chief. He was in fact a Macgregor being a descendant of Duncan Macgregor of Ardchoille. So after all that, we got to use our name again, and I'll never eat a can of Campbell's soup as long as I live." She took a deep breath and fell back on the bed. "So now ya know my geeky family history, what about yours?" Fin swallowed and looked down into twinkling blue eyes.

"You wanna know about my family of royal assholes?" She rolled her eyes when Merc gave her a wicked smirk. "Ohh it's far more interesting than yours, I'll tell ya that much. Ya know those gaudy ass velvet drapes that the southerners hung in their mansions back in the 1800's. Well, my family made those damn things; they got their name from that. Everyone called them Drapers because they made drapes."

"Yep you're right, yours sure is more interesting than mine. Easier ta explain anyways, now gimme some more food."

"I got a better idea," She tore a packet of maple syrup open with her teeth, squeezed it out on her lover's chest and then stuffed her half eaten biscuit in her mouth. "This is so much better than a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit." She leaned down and started to lick the syrup off just as Tracy came through the door.

"Aaahhh come on guys, this just ain't fair!" She covered her eyes and stumbled her way to the kitchen. "Damn Junior for not adding on ta this place and for putting a pullout bed in the living room!"

**************

"You are so dead Tracy!" Merc yelled up stairs and threw a pillow from the couch up over the railing at her friend. "Why the Hell didn't you say that they found a body in Kentucky!?"

"Temporary amnesia from seeing Fin lick syrup off your tits, sue me, see if ya get anything!" Merc growled and pulled on her boots before going to the bathroom to check on Fin. "Open the door Fin I gotta piss!"

"What's wrong with the other bathroom?"

"You're not in it," She wiggled the doorknob and grinned when it opened. "Plus I might be tempted ta toss Tracy over the railing if I go up there." She reached over Fin's head, pulled down her toothbrush and covered it with the toothpaste Fin held out to her, dropped her pants and sat down on the toilet.

"What are we gonna do at the barracks, I know they have a body in Kentucky but what's that got ta do with us?"

She mumbled with a mouthful of toothpaste. "They're gonna fax a picture of the stiff up to my office and then we have to identify the person, that is if we can." She saw Fin shiver and patted her on the ass. "You don't hafta look, I'll do it." She got up from the toilet, spit into the sink and brushed her teeth hard enough to bend the bristles on the toothbrush.

"Should I go and get you one of those wire scrub brushes?"

"Uuhhmm…nope," she rinsed her brush out, gave Fin a sloppy toothpaste kiss and left the bathroom trying to pull her pants up. "I'll use yours when mine gets too worn," she pinched Fin on her ass when she walked past her. "Are ya ready to go?"

"Do I have a choice in the matter?" She watched Merc struggle with her pants. "Ya might wanna get your pant's up before you fall down the steps." She went out the door and looked between Tracy's car and Merc's motorcycle; a wicked grin came to her face when she thought of what she could get away with while riding the bike. "Come on Mac, what's the matter is your old age slapping ya today?"

"My old age, we're the same age so if I'm old then so are you so there!" She caught her helmet that Fin threw to her and pulled it on; she waited for Fin to get her helmet on and then straddled the seat. "And no funny business while you're back there," She looked over her shoulder and narrowed an eye at the innocent expression Fin was trying to pull off. "Or we'll end up road pizza and then you'll haunt my ghost for all eternity."

***********

Junior walked past Merc's office door, stopped and took two steps backwards to stop in front of her door. He knew that when he had passed it earlier that it was open, pushing it open, he gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. "What the Hell are you two doing?" Merc looked over her lover's shoulder, down at the picture in her hand, and then up into her cousins wide eyes.

"Looking at mug shots and the picture of the stiff from Kentucky, what are you doing?" She grinned and wiggled an eyebrow.

"I…don't know," he looked at how Fin was sitting on Merc's lap and blinked his eyes. "Obviously missing something."

"I don't think you've missed anything," She looked down at his fly and shrugged her shoulders. "Flies closed, ya got jockey shorts on?" He blinked his eyes and nodded his head at her.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know…what are you talking about? Fin looked between the two and grinned at Merc, she knew what she was doing and was enjoying the Hell out of it.

"I wasn't talking about anything, what…God damn you Merc!" He rubbed his face and jabbed a finger at her. "You always do that to me, now why is our witness sitting on your lap…and where are your hands?"

"I'm protecting her ass and this is best way to do that and it's none of your business where my hands are, where have yours been today?" Junior wiggled a finger at the two of them and stuttered.

"You…you are…in deep shit Merc! Have you two…you know?"

"Identified the dead guy?" Fin said and handed him the picture. "That's Mallory but that's not the guy who was looking in my window," She took a picture from Merc's desk and handed it to him. "This is the peeping pervert!" Junior looked at the second picture, raised his eyebrows and looked to Merc.

"This is your freaky ass neighbor; I arrested him the last time I was over there."

"Yep, that would be the one and I want someone to go over there and arrest him again for…I don't give a damn what but I want his ass locked up for peeping at my…"

Fin slapped a hand over her lover's mouth and gave her a narrow eyed look. "Bare ass," she looked up to Junior with a bright smile on her face. "He was looking in the window at her bare ass." Junior shook his head and pointed a finger at Merc.

"That's not what the patrol car said, that you said about what happened that night…Ohh ta Hell with it! You two had better not be doing anything that's against the law…fuck…" He mumbled, threw his arms in the air, left her office and closed her door behind him. Fin turned so that she was looking into twinkling blue eyes and whispered in a deep voice.

"So is it illegal or just certain parts like us disturbing the peace with our yelling or the skinny dipping in the lake?"

We haven't skinny dipped in the lake."

"Not yet we haven't, if it's illegal then Hell yeah we're gonna do it." She said and then pulled Merc in for a deep passionate kiss, wrapping her arms around her neck; she turned in the chair until she was facing her lover. In a split second, the chair went over backwards with a crash spilling them onto the floor. The office door flew open and in rushed Tracy.

"Guys you OK…Ohh what the Hell are you two doing down there?" She went around the desk and helped a laughing Fin from the floor. "I bust ass getting in here because I think you two are hurt and you're making out on the floor."

"We weren't doing that," Merc winked and gave Fin a crooked grin. "Yet that is, any news on my trailer…" She saw the confused look on her lover's face and decided the safest place for her was under her desk. "Oohh shit!" Fin grabbed Tracy by the front of her t-shirt and pulled her down to eye level.

"What's with her trailer that neither one of you two told me about?"

"Uhhmm…boss you better tell her…she's getting violent!" She choked and tried to kick Merc under her desk. "Merc!"

"Mac, either get out from under there or I choke the shit outta Tracy, now what's this about your trailer?"

"Someone broke into and trashed my trailer but the only person who would do that is either the peeping pervert or Mallory. Either way we don't have to worry about them anymore," she got up from the floor and pulled Fin back into her chest. "Sorry I didn't tell you…I got preoccupied when I got home and well you know." She blushed and looked down at her feet. "Forgive me?" Tracy gasped and pried Fin's fingers from the collar of her shirt.

"Please forgive her and let me live…I might actually get laid now that I can go back ta my apartment." She gave Merc a terrified look and broke for the office door. "Later Merc gotta date waiting for me…somewhere." Fin turned in her lovers arms and grabbed her chin between thumb and forefinger.

"We are going to have a long talk tonight after we get back to my house."

"But Fin you can't go home yet, the case isn't closed and Junior…"

"The Hell it isn't, Mallory's dead and the peeping pervert is harmless. That means the case is closed, I'm going home and then in to work in the morning." She let go of her lover, walked to the door and looked over her shoulder at her. "Are you coming with me or what?"

"Please Fin, just one more night at the chalet and let me get this all straightened out in the morning." Fin stopped with her hand on the door handle, she dropped her head and looked to the floor.

"One more night and then if you still haven't gotten it all straightened out then I'm still going home. I want to sleep in my own bed, preferably with you in it." She let out a yelp when Merc picked her up from behind and hugged her.

"Thank you and I promise to take care of all of this stuff in the morning," She nuzzled her ear and whispered. "Love you twerp but what's wrong with my bed in my trailer?"

"Ohh nothing at all, I just like things the way I like 'em." She moaned when Merc kissed the side of her neck. "Keep on doing that and I might just let ya have your way with me later."

***********

Merc woke up lying on her stomach with a slight weight across her back, a low moan rumbled in her pillow when soft lips kissed the center of her back. Lifting her head, she peeked over her shoulder to see messy blonde hair and then one green eye looking back at her. "Whatcha doin?"

"Nothin, just waiting for you to wake up." She ran her fingertip from the top of her lover's shoulder, down across her back to over her hip where the scar ended. "I'll treat you to breakfast if you drop me off at work."

"What time is it and what time do you have to be at work?" She asked, rolled over to her back and pulled Fin across her chest.

"We've got two hours before I have to be at work, I have to see the principal first so that they can arrange for me to take my class back over from the substitute teacher."

"Two hours huh…we're 20 minutes from the school…plenty of time for us to play," she rolled Fin over and hovered above her. "We can stop by MacDonald's on our way to school so you can get something to eat." Fin nipped at her chin and dragged her blunt nails down her back.

"Play huh, what if I wanna play rough this morning?" Merc let out a yell when Fin bit down on her shoulder and brought a thigh up against her center. "No mercy this morning Mac, I don't want you forgetting about me when I'm not around."

"No chance of that twerp, you're unforgettable."

************

"Ohhh nononooo!" Tracy yelled and slammed her hand down on her desk. "Someone had to have fucked up the lab results, there's no way this can be right!" She grabbed up the papers and caught Merc just as she was coming through the door to the barracks. "Merc you have to look at this, the lab results are either wrong or the info you got is." Merc took the lab results and a fax sheet from Tracy and waved a hand at her.

"Let's go in my office and look at this stuff, no sense in giving the testosterone crew anything ta slap us with."

"Where's Fin, she at home or did you let her go in to work?" She watched a deep blush creep up Merc's face and knew that her friends had an interesting morning. "Ohh I get it now, you two were playing and she just made it in to work before second bell rang." She slapped Merc on her shoulder and poked her in the neck. "Nice sucker bite ya got there Merc, the little vampire getcha again?"

"Giant skeeters down by the lake, now what am I looking fer here?"

"Look at the blood typing that Timmy sent over and look at the results taken from Fin's house." She dropped down on the corner of Merc's desk and waited for her to read the papers.

"We have a huge ass problem…wait a minute, if we get my neighbors blood type maybe he'll match what was found at Fin's house."

"That's a no go; I mean we don't need it. He was in lock up again the night that Fin's house was broke into." Merc nodded her head and read the reports over again.

"Guess that means that Fin is going to be pissed off not to mention that the case is not closed and Junior's gonna have a cow. Figures that Mallory was a secretor and who ever trashed Fin's isn't, would I be too far off to think that someone hired Mallory and he's the one who broke into our places?"

"Stranger things have happened; maybe he's the one who knocked off Mallory." She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. "I wanted ta be the one to shoot that fucker and someone else beat us to it."

"They had more fun; ME's report says that his body was crushed." She looked up at Tracy and grinned. "I think that who ever killed him ran him over a few times before sticking him in his trunk." Tracy shivered and wiped at her mouth.

"That's gross, wonder if it was like lifting up a garbage bag filled with water?" Merc gave her a funny look and cringed at the thought of what a crushed body would be like to lift and move around.

"I think you've managed to make me loose my appetite for the rest of the day, thanks buddy."

"Sure no problem and let me know what Fin does to ya when ya tell her the bad news, I'm going to run over to the hardware store for some new locks and stuff for her place. Super Geek is gonna help me run an alarm system for her so that she has some feeling of safety."

"Ohh and what am I chopped liver?"

"You're the bed warmer." She ran from her office before flying projectiles could connect with any part of her body.

******************

Fin dropped her head and turned to face the black board, she wondered what happened to the intelligent class that she had before the attack. Her ninth graders were now stupid as dirt and had the attention span of slugs. When a tennis ball bounced off the board beside her head, she spun around and pointed a finger at the culprit. "YOU, OUT IN THE HALL NOW!"

"I didn't throw it and even if I did you can't prove it because you didn't see me and no ones gonna nark!" The fifteen-year-old boy yelled back at her, smirked and puffed out his chest when she said nothing.

"They don't need to because you ratted on yourself when you sat there for the last ten minutes bouncing it on your desk; now get out of my room before I throw you out!" She stalked towards him and snarled when the other kids started to snicker at his awkward escape to the hallway. He spun around to face the glass in the door, pulled his dick out and waved it at Finnegan's back.

"Suck my dick bitch!" He let out a blood-curdling scream when he was jerked upside down by one ankle.

"How about if I slam you into the brick wall until there's nothing left for your asshole parents to identify?"

"You can't do that, I'll have you arrested and put in jail!" He screamed back and struggled in mid air. "Let me down you asshole!"

"Don't think so; let's see what Miss Draper has to say about your behavior and your classmates about your tiny ass dick." Merc opened the door to Finnegan's classroom and walked in holding the kid up by his ankle; she gave the class a growl to quiet them and went to the front of the room.

"Now you little asswipes listen up, I'm taking asshole here in for indecent exposure and for breathing. Anyone here want to join him?" She looked at the terrified kids from beneath the brim of her Smokey hat, she released the death grip she had on the kid's ankle and grinned when he hit the floor with a whimper. "Put your tiny ass dick away and get your ass right beside the door and don't you dare breathe!" She turned to a fuming Finnegan and lowered her head. "Miss Draper can I speak to you in the hallway?"

"Sure why not, it's not like my class will be disturbed or anything, brain suckers got them while I was gone!" She walked to the door and stopped to see Merc point a finger at every kid in the room.

"Not one peep, heavy breathe, snort or batting of an eyelash or I'll haul every single one of you in!" She pulled out her baton and spun it through her fingers for effect before following Finnegan out into the hallway. "Hate fucking kids, they should be beaten hourly until they're 50!"

Finnegan moved into her lover's personal space and grabbed her by the front of her Sam Brown belt. "What are you doing here besides scaring the shit outta all those little shitbags?"

"I'm here to give you the body guard treatment, Mallory wasn't the one who broke in your house." Fin narrowed her eyes and leaned in closer so that she could whisper.

"If it wasn't him then who was it?"

"We don't know but I'm not taking any chances where you're concerned, who ever it was is still out there..."

"Who cares, I have you to protect me and where did you get those boots?" She looked down at the black boots that came to Merc's knee and moaned. "I want you to wear those and nothing else tonight."

"Excuse me Miss Draper is there anything wrong?" Finnegan dropped her hand from Merc's belt buckle and spun to face the principal.

"No sir, First Sergeant Macgregor was just…"

"Seeing if everything is alright," Merc replied and tipped her hat. "If you need anything call the barracks and one of the troopers will help you." She tipped her hat and walked down the hallway to where she had parked the department's one and only Harley motorcycle. She placed her Smokey in the hard saddlebag and pulled her helmet on before hitting the start switch. A wide grin came to her face when she thought of what Finnegan had said to her. "Just the boots, could be an interesting night."

************

Finnegan opened the room to her classroom and pointed a finger at the kid that Merc had grabbed in the hallway. "I want him gone from my classroom, suspended…expelled I don't care. I'm not putting up with a spoiled rich brat throwing stuff at me the second I turn my back!"

"But Miss Draper, his parents are the presidents of both the cheerleading and football supporters groups…"

"Ohh so because they have money, I should let their asshole of a kid push me and others around? I don't think so and that goes for anyone else that thinks because they have money they should be able to get away with crimes. Now get him out of my room or I'll go to the board and tell them about the special treatment you want to bestow upon that brat."

"You know Miss Draper, when his parents find out about this; they will cause you all sorts of problems. They have pull and you could find yourself without a job." Finnegan crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the principal.

"Is that a threat Mr. Penten, because if it is I will have more to say on this?"

"Take it as you wish, you have to play by certain rules to get anywhere in this life is what I'm saying." He escorted the teenager from her classroom and took one last glance back at her before closing the door.

"Fucking little bastard, we'll see who gets where in this life." She mumbled to herself, stood beside the door and watched as the kids rushed passed her when the bell rang, she was thankful that this was the last class she had to teach that day and just had a study hall to watch over. "I can't wait to get home and fall on the couch with a certain muscle head." A wide evil grin came over her face when she thought of her lover in just motorcycle boots. "She may not survive the night." She gathered up her books and papers, stuffed them in her backpack and headed down the hall to the study hall room.

*************

Merc pulled the Harley off the side of Rt. 9 to wait for traffic to pick up after the release of the High School kids; it never failed to fill a traffic ticket book if you knew where to sit. She pulled her radar gun from the hard saddlebags, plugged it into the auxiliary plug and took a stance beside the bike. She looked down at her watch and figured that she had maybe five or ten minutes before the first wave came through. Turning her radio up, she turned to face the traffic and adjusted her sunglasses. "Come on you little pricks, time to pay." She caught the sound of a revving engine coming around the curve in the road and a flash of chrome. In a flash, the car swerved from its lane and came directly at her. Dropping the radar gun, she put her foot up on the seat of the Harley and launched her self into the air. Her attempt was a split second too late, the cars windshield caught her one foot, spun her in mid air and sent her into the side of the car. She hit the ground and rolled into the ditch, the car, sped off without even slowing.

***************

Fin looked down at the clock on her dashboard, slapped her steering wheel and cussed at the traffic. She wanted to get home before Merc and get supper started; she had plans for them and didn't want to waste a single second. "What the Hell is going on up there?" She yelled at the car in front of her and slapped her steering wheel again. "One of you asshole kids probably smacked into someone again, damn brats shouldn't be allowed to drive until your 30!" She watched as one of the other teachers walked past her car, she sighed and got out to follow. "What the Hell, I might as well see what's going on." She jogged to catch up and then saw an ambulance arriving up ahead. "Looks like someone's hurt."

"I got a call on my cell phone from another teacher, she said that a cop got hit up there and the person who did it never stopped." Fin stopped dead in her tracks and looked at all the flashing lights in front of them, she grabbed her cell phone, dialed Merc's number and got the message that the phone was not in service. Panic set in, she felt her heart race and knew deep down inside that it was Merc up ahead. She took off running along the edge of the road and ran right into an officer keeping gawkers from the scene. "I have to get through!"

"I can't let you through ma'am; you'll have to stay back." She struggled and tried to break away from him. "I told you ma'am, you can't go up there!"

"Just tell me that it wasn't a State Trooper that was hit!" She let out a whimper when she felt his hands loosen on her arms. "Please tell me it wasn't a female trooper!"

"I'm sorry ma'am…" He caught her when she started to wail and fell to her knees; he looked around and saw a trooper coming his way. "Do you know her?" He asked and felt relief when the female trooper nodded her head and knelt down in front of Fin.

"Come on Fin I'll take you up there," Tracy held a hand out to the cop. "She's family; just make sure that no one else comes through." She wrapped an arm around Fin and took her right to the ambulance. "I'm warning you now it's not pretty but you're the only one who can handle the situation." She let her go and cringed from the screaming coming from the back of the ambulance, she knew it wasn't Merc screaming so it had to be one of the paramedics.

"I'm not dead! Get the fuck off me and gimme back my shirt! Sick fucks wanna play with my tits!" She struggled against the straps around her body and had the stretcher bouncing in the back of the ambulance. "Don't you touch my gun!" She yelled and tried to bite the paramedic again.

"You bite me again and I will use the paddles on you!" He yelled back and then fell to the floor with a yelp.

"You do and you'll deal with me!" Fin yelled in his ear and slapped him on his head. "Now leave her alone or deal with me!" She turned to her lover and pointed a finger at her. "You are in deep shit and you will suffer at my hands when we get home, now behave yourself and do what they want!" She sat down on the small bench and dropped her head down on Merc's shoulder. "I lost twenty years off my life when I thought you were dead." She sniffed and then broke down sobbing against her lover's chest.

"I'm alright Fin only my hip hurts from landing on it but these assholes won't let me go." She looked down at her bare chest and growled. "Damn pervs tore my shirt off for some damn reason and I'm freezing here!" She glared at the paramedic and then dropped her head back against the stretcher when Fin covered her with a blanket. "Thanks baby, can we go home now?"

********

Merc groaned and tried to take over how fast her wheelchair moved, she found out quick that Fin could throw the brakes on quicker than she could spin the wheels. "Come on Fin, I don't need this wheelchair, I'm not hurt and I HATE THIS!" She jumped up and ran towards the ER doors leaving Fin to yell after her. She made it out the door and stopped at the sight of her ma leaning against her car with her arms crossed over her chest. "Hi ya Ma; I'm in deep shit ain't I?"

"Get your ass in the car before I kick it!" She opened the door and waited for Fin to slip in beside her daughter. "Always something with you, I swear you'll be the death of me!" She closed the door, went around to the driver's side and got in. She looked at her daughter's bruised face and sighed. "You can't fool me Merci, I know you hurt and don't you dare deny it." Merc sighed and dropped her head down; she looked sideways at her ma and gave her a weak grin.

"Yeah Ma, I hurt but its nothing a good soak and some pain killers won't take care of." She took her lover's hand in hers and brought it up to her lips. "Sorry you had to go through all of this, I wasn't expecting some nutcase to try and run me over. Who knew they would take such offense to a speed trap?" She knew she was in deep trouble because Fin was too quiet and her ma gave her a quick glance of stormy eyes. "Sooo…sure is hot today but I know the doghouse is gonna be worse."

***********

"Don't you dare move Merci Macgregor or I'll tie you down and beat your ass!" Fin said and then held out aspirins and a glass of water. "Now take these and let me put something on all your bruises." She waved a tube of muscle rub at her and had her roll to her stomach after taking the aspirins. "Leave it up to you to get in a motorcycle accident and not even be on one at the time," She leaned down close to her lover's ear and growled. "Never again, I never want to feel like that again."

"Fin I don't need that stuff rubbed all over me…" She moaned and whimpered when small hands massaged her lower back and then worked all the way up to the sore muscles of her neck. "OK…so it does feel good and don't worry, Tracy's gonna get the asshole who did this. I got his license plate number from where I was laying in the ditch, not to mention he has part of the Harley attached to his front fender."

"Can you work with a shoe stuck up your ass?"

*************

Merc spent the next couple of days laying around or trying to stretch out her sore muscles, not that it was her choice, Fin made sure she didn't go anywhere by hiring a body guard. Ma sat with a fly swatter in her hand and if Merc breathed too heavy, she swung it at her. "Can't I even go for a walk?"

"Nope because I know you'll run to the gym or go over to Tracy's and use her weights, so nope you're not going anywhere." She went back to reading her magazine and grinned behind it when Merc let out a sigh. "Ohh come on Merc, when Fin gets home maybe she'll be feeling generous and let you off the couch,"

"Yeah if she can't reach anything in the cabinets, otherwise I gotta sit here." She slouched down on the couch and looked at her bare feet. "Guess this is being grounded huh?"

"You're lucky, you could be grounded by six feet or so," She looked over her magazine. "When you get this asshole I want a piece of him, I'll make him wish that he was never born." She went back to reading and snickered when Merc kept making sighing noises and then started tapping her feet on the floor.

******************

Fin stacked all the test papers on the corner of her desk and then took her seat; it had been a rough couple of days at school for her. Someone had seen her going ballistic at the accident scene and had left homophobic remarks on her chalk boards. She could care less what they thought of her, it was the kids who were in the closet that would suffer. She rested her elbows on her desk, brought her hands up and covered her face. "Mother fuckers are all a bunch of fucking losers," She removed her hands and looked out the window to the parking lot, what made her temper shoot through the roof was what was spray painted on the side of her car. "I'm gonna kill 'em all!" She yelled and grabbed her cell phone from her back pack, after she heard a sleepy voice grumble hello, she went off. "Get out here…some fucker spray painted my car!" She got up, shoved her chair back into the wall and stormed from her classroom. She hoped that someone got in her way just so she could kick them and take out the frustration she had been feeling for the last week. She pushed open a side door of the school and stomped out to stand beside her car, she turned and looked to the building to see if anyone was watching her.

**********************

"That was Fin, she's not a happy camper and I'm scared shitless right now." Merc said and dropped the phone on the couch. "She said someone spray painted her car and wants us out there." She looked to Tracy and then to her ma. "We may have to sedate her with the tranquilizer rifle."

"You shoot her; I'm staying in the cruiser where it's sorta safe." Tracy said and took the last bite of her triple cheeseburger.

"Ohh so I can sleep all alone for the rest of my life, not a chance!" She got up slowly, grabbed her baseball hat and waited for Tracy to get up. "You coming with us Ma?"

"Nope, I'm going home and making sure that Timmy hasn't turned it into a whore house, if he did then he better give me half of the earnings." She walked with them to the front door and out to her car. "Call me later and let me know if I have to post bail for Fin, or help hide the bodies."

Merc rubbed her face and looked to Tracy; she hoped that what ever was painted on the side of her lover's car it wasn't too horrible. "Do you still have that paint reducer at home; we may have to do some quick body work?"

"Yep or we could just repaint it, I got some spare paint in the garage, kinda a blue color." She got into her cruiser, flipped the radio on and called in to the dispatcher where she was going, when finished; she pulled out of the driveway and tore off towards the school. "I've been running checks on the license plate from the car that hit you and I keep coming up with it not being registered since 1982 and the person who had it last has been dead since 1981." She cast a quick glance to Merc and then turned down a road that would bring them on the side of the high school. "I ran the make of the car and there's like over 2200 of the damn things in the surrounding three states, any other ideas?"

"Gimme the name of the deceased and I'll run a check on any relatives or what ever and see if anything pans out from that." She looked out the passenger side rear window and tried to see where her lover was. "I wonder where she parked her car?"

"Probably where she could see it from her class room window, which side of the building is it?"

"The other side, it's where the horse shoe is and the school buses."

********************

Finnegan cussed and shook her hand again before gripping the pole with both hands and swinging with all her anger and frustration behind her, when she made contact with the other pole, it clanged. "FUCKING…GODDAMN…SONS OF BITCHES!" She yelled and shook her hands out again. "COCK SUCKERS!" She swung the pipe and then jumped when her full name echoed through the parking lot.

"I can't leave her alone to even teach class," Merc said to a snickering Tracy and stomped up to pull her lover away from the steel pole. "What in the Hell were you doing?" She looked over her shoulder to where the smaller pole was bent around the larger one in a U shape.

"What…I wasn't hurting anyone or myself!" She turned and stood up on her toes to be taller. "They painted pussy licker on both sides of my car!" She gritted her teeth, narrowed her eyes and lost the battle when Merc pulled her into a tight hug. Merc looked to Tracy and nodded her head when she walked towards Fin's car. "I hate this place," She broke down into sobs and hugged Merc tighter. "Wanna quit."

"I'll take care of this, security will have the parking lot tapes and then we'll bust the asshole." She dropped her head down and placed a soft kiss to Fin's cheek and held her tighter. "Why don't you go sit in the cruiser with Tracy, give her the specifics and I'll go get the tapes."

"Why can't I go with you?" She pulled back and looked up with tear filled red rimmed eyes.

"Twerp, if I take you in there you'll see the bad cop and I don't want you seeing me that way." She pressed a lingering kiss to her lips and then handed her off to Tracy before she turned to go into the school. She let her expression slide from her face to be replaced by one of stone, her eyes searched the windows for anyone watching before she pulled the side door open. The click of her boot heels echoed as she walked down the hallway in the direction of the principal's office, she hoped someone gave her a problem with her request for the security tapes; she was aching to smash someone's face in. She pushed open the door, walked up to the long counter that divided the office and waited for one of the women in there to notice her. After five minutes of them ignoring her, she slammed her hand down hard enough that it sounded like a rifle shot. "Is this how you people treat others?" She asked and leaned over to get closer to one of the women that walked by. "What is it that I'm too ugly to warrant any ones attention here?"

"You're in here during off hours, we're only open until eleven o'clock and then after one o'clock. So you'll have to come back then if it's important."

"That's it," she walked to the small wooden gate, pushed it open and walked to the principal's door. "I'm charging everyone in here with impeding a police investigation and obstruction of justice, now where's the principal?"

"He called in sick today, he has the flu. Now if you would leave." An older woman said and tried to pull Merc towards the office door.

"You people are all demented, I want to see the security tapes for the teachers parking lot and I'm not leaving until I see them now where are they?"

"We don't have a security office so there are no tapes." The woman said and tried once again to remove Merc from the office.

Merc rolled her eyes and pulled out her badge. "Don't piss me off any more than I already am, I have one pissed off and upset teacher right now who wants to know who vandalized her car." She started opening cabinet doors until she found the cabinet with all the security equipment in it. "You know you people are in deep shit when the DA hears about this?"

"Don't you need a search warrant for what you're doing?"

"Please, I've got the car sitting in the parking lot, the teacher sitting in the cruiser with the other trooper and you people impeding my investigation. Push me and I'll have the DA out here writing up every tiny little problem and obstruction you've thrown in my way!" She took the tape from the VCR and the one sitting on top of it. "I'll have these returned as soon as I look at them." She left the office and stopped right next to the door to eaves drop; it never failed to amuse her how many asshole people there were in the world.

"Call the principal and tell him that the police were here, he should be home by now."

Merc's face turned into a sinister mask, she stepped back around the corner and pointed a finger at all the women. "That's another mistake, lying to a police officer." She walked from the school with the video tapes in her hand, when she got to Tracy's cruiser, she saw her lover twisting a red bandana in her hands. "OK I got the tapes, lets take them back to the barracks and we can look at them there." She pulled Finnegan from the cruiser, walked her over to her car and helped her into the passenger seat. "I have this feeling that all your stuff is in your classroom so I'm gonna go get it so I don't have to bail you out of jail after Tracy has to arrest you." She gave her a quick kiss before she ran back to the school.

*********************

Finnegan stood practically on top of the TV while the security tape was playing, no one else could see it so they had to depend on her. "Fucking little bastard I hope his dick gets caught next time." She mumbled and then pointed to the screen. "You see what kind of kids are in this world; this little fucker is pissing in someone's gas tank!" She waited a few minutes and then stopped the tape. "I don't fucking believe this," She turned to Merc and Tracy. "I'm suing for everything I can and then I'm gonna retire to be a kitchen bitch." She stepped back and let them see one of the office secretaries and the principal spray painting the side of her car. "And they lied and said that he was at home with the flu?"

Merc nodded her head and then looked to Tracy. "Grab a couple guys and go serve arrest warrants to those assholes for destruction of private property." She grabbed the phone, called the ADA and asked for the warrants needed and told her that one of her troopers would be there to pick them up. "OK Twerp, I'm hungry so we're going for lunch." She got up from her desk, turned the TV and VCR off before pulling Finnegan into her arms. "And then we're going home, my hip is killing me."

"And here I thought you were indestructible, you know like Robocop." She kissed her softly and then pulled away. "Let's just go home and I'll make us something to eat and then give you a rub down, thank you for coming to my rescue earlier."

"Just glad I could save that poor pole from any more pain, you should have taken it out on those nasty bitches in the office." She told her about their attitudes towards her when she was in there and how they denied having any security equipment.

"Since I was gone, they all changed, it's like they're born again or something." She wrapped an arm around Merc as they went through the barracks. "Ya know they won't even speak to me, I go in and get my stuff and go to class." She hip checked her lover and whispered in a deep voice. "I'd like ta jump up on that counter and moon their dumb asses."

*******************

Tracy pulled into the principal's driveway and waited for the other Trooper to park before she got out of her cruiser. She looked around and then shrugged her shoulders when she didn't see a car in the area. "Maybe he parks in the garage," She said to the other trooper and then went up to the front door, she hit the doorbell, stepped back and placed her hand on her pistol. A few minutes went by with no one answering the door; she hit the door bell again and gave up waiting. "I don't think any ones here, is he married?" She groaned when he shrugged his shoulders. "Just great the most exciting thing to happen to me this week is to serve an arrest warrant to…no one!" She walked back to her cruiser and grabbed the radio microphone from inside, she told the dispatcher what was happening and that they were returning to the barracks.

"You mean hanging around the First Sergeant isn't exciting, I'd give a stripe to be around her for an hour."

Tracy shook her head and gave him a raised eyebrow look that was close to one Merc threw at everyone. "You do realize that she's a dyke and wants nothing to do with men don't you?" She raised her hand when he opened his mouth. "I know what you're gonna say so just forget that idea, we don't care how many years it is between partners, we will never be with some dumbass man and ya can't change our lifestyles no matter how big your dick is."

"So you sleep with our first sergeant, is that how you got your stripes?"

Tracy balled up her fists and was close to knocking all his teeth out. "That is beyond gross that would be like incest you sick bastard and I got my stripes by taking the tests you dumbass." She was about to tear into him again when they got a call from the other Troopers that were serving the arrest warrant to the secretary, they were in a car chase and needed back-up. "You just got your ass saved, you know that don't you?"

**************

Merc dropped down onto her couch and looked at the chalet's ceiling; they had decided to just stay there even though both of their places were somewhat safe, it seemed more of a home to them than either one of their own places. Merc wondered if her uncle would sell her the place, it wasn't used that much and with her cousin graduating from college it would be empty most of the time. Plus she loved the openness, the lake and that she could have a dog if she lived out here. "Are you goin ta work in the morning?"

"I really don't have much of a choice," Finnegan came around the end of the couch and looked down at Merc. "I know there's gonna be a bunch of shit because of the principal and his secretary being arrested and what ever else that can go wrong before morning." She crawled across the couch, lay down on top of her lover and pressed her face into her neck. "I'd rather stay home and bake cookies," She heard Merc snort and then clear her throat. "I can bake 'em if they're doughboy kind that ya just slice and burn in the oven." She raised her head and looked down into silvery eyes. "Or better yet I'll just buy some and spend all that extra time getting you naked." She slipped one hand up under Merc's shirt and ran her fingers across her hardened nipple, the low moan that came from her sent tingles down Fin's spine. "Is the door locked?"

"Who cares if it's not," Merc growled as she got up from the couch and carried Fin all the way up the stairs to the bed. "No one knows we're here." She laid them both down on the bed and then let Fin undress her. For hours they caressed each other and loved with a gentleness that came from an emotion deeper than love, with no loud yells or animalistic rutting, they rode on euphoric waves into a deep restful sleep.

******************

Tracy checked her and Merc's e-mail and came across one from Timmy, she opened it and within reading the first couple of sentences, she was cussing and grabbing her smoky hat. On the way to her cruiser, she stopped by Junior's office and waved a hand at him. "Call Merc, our perp may be on his way over there…its Fin's boss." She ran from the barracks and right to her cruiser without looking back when Junior yelled after her.

"Son of a bitch, what have they gotten mixed up in?" He went back inside and to his office, he wasn't sure of where Merc and Fin were but he would start at his Aunt's house and work his way to the other places. "Those three have managed to get into more trouble than my sons," He grabbed the phone and started making calls.

*****************

Tracy used her cell phone and called the Chalet, she hung up when it went unanswered. "Where the Hell are you guys…Ohhh shit!" She pulled off the side of the road, pulled a U turn and headed in the direction of the Chalet; she had a bad feeling that they were busy and would leave the phone to ring. "Damn sex fiends, I hope you two are just not there, maybe renting a movie or something." She flipped the siren and lights on to get though the intersections and then floored the gas pedal once she was on the open road. She hoped that she was completely wrong and that the principal was on his way to another country instead of trying to find her best friends. She had taken it upon herself to have a patrol car make passes in front of his house and when he showed up the trooper had rights to arrest him. They had the secretary behind bars for not only vandalism but for striking an officer and damaging Local Government property. They had one less cruiser thanks to the woman throwing her cordless phone receiver through the windshield. Grabbing the radio microphone, she called the dispatcher and asked to be connected with Junior; a few seconds went by before she heard his voice come over the small speaker. "I'm on my way over to the chalet, I have a feeling that they're over there, any word on the trooper in the principal's area?"

"You have a trooper stationed over near this guys house, under whose authority…never mind, I haven't heard anything beyond that damn bitch beating up a cop over at the jailhouse." She heard voices in the back ground and then Junior's again. "I had a trooper go over to both of their places and they're not there, you let me know if they are at the chalet and then stay there until we pick up the principal."

"OK I'll do that and as soon as I find them I'm beating their asses, get me all worried and…I'll let ya know." She hung the microphone over the rearview mirror and peeled around a corner and shot up a back road that would take three minutes off the trip.

*******************

Finnegan grabbed a large bowl from the cupboard, filled it with the deep fried shrimp and mozzarella cheese sticks she had just made and went towards the stairs where Merc was still in bed. Popping a shrimp into her mouth, she chewed slowly as she took in her tall extremely muscular lover. Merc was a total mess; her hair was still damp with sweat and tangled. She lay down beside her with the bowl between them and continued to eat as she took in every detail of her lover's face. She no longer saw the facial scars that covered a portion of her face or the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and lips. It was the grey hair at her temples that were multiplying daily that held her attention. "Why are ya staring at me and not feeding me?"

"I was busy counting all the grey hairs, ya know you're gonna be all grey before the years out." She ran her fingers through the short hair at her temples and then placed a soft kiss to the side of her neck. "It's quite distinguished and adds a maturity to ya."

Merc opened one eye beneath a raised eyebrow. "That's a nice way of saying I'm older than dirt and beginning to look like it as well." She rolled to her side, looked in the bowl and took a cheese stick.

"That makes us both older than dirt," Fin said and held out a jumbo shrimp. "And I'll love you even when all your teeth fall out and ya have to gum your food." She grinned and chuckled when Merc stopped mid chew to look at her. "I'll even smash your food so it's easier to gum."

"Gee thanks Twerp but I'll just use your false teeth instead of gumming my food."

*********************

Mr. Penten fought with the door to the chalet's basement and finally managed to get it open without making a lot of noise. He blinked and tripped his way into the darkness and stopped to listen for any noises that he had been heard. When nothing happened, he went towards the dim light at the top of the stairs. At the top, he stopped and looked into the dim light of the kitchen; he didn't hear anything so he stepped in further. He then heard soft laughter and a loud thump, stepping back into the shadow of the door, he waited.

"Ohh come on Fin the lake's not that cold and besides it'll give us a reason to take a nice hot bath." She said from where she lay on the floor beside the bed. "I'll make it worth it; I'll make us real hot chocolate with little marshmallows in it." She fell back on the floor when Fin stepped over her and went down the stairs.

"You'll have to do more than that Mac; I'm not a cheap date." She placed the empty bowl from their snack on the counter and went to look out the window that showed the lake. "It'll cost you a Hell of a lot to get me out there naked and in ice cold water." She mumbled to herself and then turned when she heard footsteps behind her. "I heard…what the Hell…MAC!" She yelled and stepped away from Penten. "How did you get in and what the Hell are you doing here?" She asked and searched for something to cover her naked body with.

"I came to finish what that idiot Mallory couldn't do, I've been trying to catch you alone but this will work." He pulled a small caliber pistol from his pocket and waved it at her. "You know he was supposed to kill both you and the shop teacher and I thought it was all taken care of when you just happened to be the one to investigate the noise." He stepped closer to her and looked over her body with insane eyes. "I had to take care of him…he was a liability." When he heard a slight squeak he looked to the stairs and saw Merc trying to sneak down behind him. "The world can't have you people near its children…you'll poison their minds and convert them!" He swung his arm towards the stairs, pulled the trigger and watched Merc slam back into the wall. Finnegan let out a loud yell that made her own ears hurt, she charged Penten and knocked him over to the floor. Grabbing the pistol from his hand, she threw it across the room and started to pummel him with her bare hands. The screams that came from her with each punch were animalistic and hair raising. Merc clutched her side and moved down the stairs, she stopped when she saw her lover and knew if she didn't stop her she would kill the principal with her bare hands. Checking her side, she saw that the bleeding had stopped a little.

"Finnegan stop, you're killing him!" She wrapped her arms around her waist and picked her up from the unconscious and badly beaten man. "He can't hurt us anymore," she whispered in her ear. "He's finished and it's all over with now." She let her lover turn in her arms and wrapped her in a tight hug. "Maybe I should teach school and you catch bad guys." When the door opened and Tracy came flying in, she pointed to the floor and stepped back. "Call for the wagon, Twerp beat the shit outta him."

"God damn, I was too late again!" She said and flipped Penten over to handcuff him. "I tried calling and you guys never answered, Timmy traced the car and the license plate of the dead guy came back to this asshole. It was his great uncle or something," She stood up and kicked the principal in his ribs. "Sick fucker here sued his own Aunt and contested the will because money was left to a gay cousin." She looked to see how pale Merc was and knew that something was wrong. "OK what else happened?" She stepped closer and saw the blood on her hand and all down her leg. Fin pulled back and looked up at her lovers face and remembered what happened before she tackled her boss.

"Ohhh God he shot you…sit down!" She pushed her back to the couch and started checking her while Tracy called for the ambulance and Junior.

Merc rolled her eyes. "It's just a scratch…Twerp; I've cut myself worse shaving." She rolled to her side and looked down where she was grazed. "Just get the peroxide and a band aid and I'll be good as new."

*******************

A week later, Ma and Timmy walked towards the Chalet's lake and had to stop and make sure of what they were seeing; Merc paced along the edge of the lake and threw her hands in the air every few feet. "Ma has she flipped on us, I can actually say that she's no where near normal." He blinked his eyes and looked to his ma. "And why are we out here and not inside with my queen and the little hotty?"

"For the simple fact that you're a little dog and your sister's worst man, no go see what she did with the camera."

"Ohh you just wanna see her toss me in the lake when I laugh at her, can't fool me, I'm not as dumb as she is." He moved quickly to his sister's side and bit the insides of his mouth to keep from laughing. "Hey Merc, Ma wants ta know what you did with the camera and…nice legs sis!" He ducked her hand and almost landed in the lake if not for her quickness.

"Asshole little pervert," she waved to her ma and yelled. "In the freezer!"

"You put the camera in the freezer," he shook his head and gave her a wide grin. "Any pictures of Fin naked or how about my queen Tracy?" He backed up when she growled and leveled a long finger at him. "Just kidding geez ya act like I don't have pictures of you naked." He waved a hand at her. "Sorta naked, it's for the CGI on my gaming program. Would ya put on a blue leotard with censors on it so I can record your clumsy ass way of moving?"

"You are really pushing it Tiny Tim, are they almost ready up at the Chalet, I'm tired of walking around out here?"

"Yep, that's another reason why we came out here and to let the wild animals know that you're not a hazard to their health." He slapped her on the back and walked with her back towards the Chalet. "You know I never thought either one of us would ever get married and with this last fiasco that you were in…"

"I'm just glad that the asshole is locked up in solitaire and will never see the light of day." She pressed her hand to the area where her new scar was and shook her head. "Who knew that the Twerp was so dangerous, Penten's face will never look the same."

"Knowing what she did I'm not worried about you as much, you have someone to help you kick ass when needed, that is besides Tracy."

Merc stopped and looked down at her brother with raised brows. "Are you really my brother or one of his creations?"

"What like I can't tell you that I've worried about you all these years cuz you're a cop?" He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "I almost forgot I got an e-mail from one of the guys at headquarters." He wiggled his brows and gave her a toothy grin.

"Come on Timmy before I smack you."

"Guess who's in prison for being a pedophile among other things true and fictional?" He waited and flinched when she growled. "Davis Ferguson, it seems that when the IRS took his PC, they found numerous pictures of little neighborhood boys. The FBI broke one of the biggest pedophile groups in the area and Davis was the head honcho, he's in the population and I made sure that all the prisoners got the word of why he's in there."

"And just how is it that you have connections in the prison?"

"Where do ya think the FBI puts all the PC hackers?"

******************

Ma helped Fin with the last of her wedding gown and turned to wink at Tracy. "Ya know Merc's gonna fall over the second she walks in here, maybe you should go out there and at least get one shock done with?" She waved a hand at the long white hose that Tracy wore. "Looks like old lady support hose." Once they were alone, ma looked to Finnegan and gave her a bright smile. "I'm so proud of both of you, and so happy that you're joining our little family." She gave her a hug and kissed her cheek.

"Little family, ma there's how many of you Macgregor's in this county alone?"

"Ohh they don't count, I mean me, Timmy and Tracy. Now we have one more in our little family and I pray that some day they'll be a little Mac of Fin running around."

Finnegan smiled and shook her head. "I knew that was coming, give us some time, right now the mere thought of kids scares me." She looked towards the door and waved at Timmy. "Looks like we're almost ready here just need Mac and Tracy."

**************************

"I can't fucking believe this," Tracy mumbled and tried to figure out how to sit without catching a draft. "When this is over with…you OWE ME BIG TIME!" She yelled with her arms up over her head.

"When this is all over I may be passed out on the floor," She spun the Celtic wedding band on her little finger and examined the delicate woven pattern. "I never expected her to say yes when I asked her to marry me, I mean I was in the ambulance when I asked."

"I can't think of a better place that way if she slapped the shit outta ya at least there was someone there to take care of ya."

Merc snickered at the memory; she had been strapped to a gurney with Finnegan sitting on the small bench beside her. It was just like when she had been hit by the car and Finnegan had threatened her. Not being a romantic person, she had turned her head, looked into brilliant green eyes and asked her to marry her. Finnegan had blinked a few times, her mouth fell open and she started to hyperventilate. The paramedic slapped an oxygen mask over her face and pushed her head down between her knees, Merc was praying that the back doors would pop open and she'd slide out gurney and all.

"Well she said yes then now let's see if she does it again." Just then Timmy opened the door and gave them both the rolling eyes and exasperated expression.

"Guess it's that time," Merc mumbled and got up from the step. "Come on Tracy lets go before ma comes out here." She walked in and felt her very breath leave her body, the living room was cleared except for a small table near the fireplace, red and white rose pedals covered the floor and two white candles burned on either side of the mantel. She stepped in further and looked up to see her ma coming down the stairs from the loft.

"Don't you move you stay right there until I get down there." She rushed down the stairs and grabbed Merc by her elbow. "Stand right here next to Timmy, Tracy get your ass upstairs." Merc snorted when Tracy lifted the back of her kilt and flashed her Superman boxers at them and then went up the stairs with the grace of a man in a dress. Now stay right there, I have ta start the music and get the handcuffs ready." She gave her daughter a huge grin, walked over to the stereo and then stopped by the small table. She turned to face the stairs and smiled brightly when Tracy stepped forward and then Finnegan. She was a beautiful bride; her pure white gown had thin red ribbons threaded through at the waist that matched the red roses in her bouquet and Merc and Tracy's Kilts. She smiled lovingly at Merc when she saw her standing next to Timmy; she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the red, black and white kilt in the Macgregor tartan. Her black Prince Charlie Coatee and vest were set off by the gold buttons down the front and the white rabbit fur Sporran at her waist. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she placed her hand on top of Tracy's forearm and walked with her to Merc's side. She looked up into pale blue eyes and felt her heart flip. She reached out and took Merc's offered hand and swore that she felt a small shock.

"OK people this isn't gonna be one of those long ass weddings like the other ones have," Ma said and stepped in front of them with a red and black ribbon in her hands. "Plus the fact that we're not Catholic helps a lot." She raised the ribbons and held them over Merc and Fin's joined hands. Merc dropped her head down and took her wife's lips in a gentle kiss; she lifted her head and then whispered in a deep voice. "You are my heart and soul, I will love you forever." She slipped the band on Finnegan's finger and placed a lingering kiss to her lips.

Fin squeezed her hand and gazed up with tear filled eyes into Merc's. "You are the very breath I take and the only one to ever have my heart." She slipped the matching band on Merc's finger and then pulled her down for a breath stealing kiss.

"This is how our kin were married hundreds of years ago, no fancy stuff just the binding of two hearts with a simple ribbon." She tied it around their wrists and then took Merc's silver and gold sgian dubh from the top of her hose and held it over the ribbon. "May death not even part these two hearts," She cut the ribbon and then handed the knife to Tracy. "Now give your wife a real smooch Merc and where's the booze?" She gave them a group hug and went into the kitchen to get the bottle of Champagne from the refrigerator.

*******************

Hours later with everyone at home, Merc lay at the foot of the bed in just her kilt and sporran, Fin's wedding gown was across a chair and her shoes and stockings were strewn across the floor. "What are ya doing down there?"

"Looking for something to eat and don't you dare say haggis, that stuff is horrible!"

Merc chuckled, got up from the bed and leaned against the wall with one hand. Her legs were still weak and she swore that her blood sugar level was at zero; she shook her head and felt a wave of dizziness come over her. "Twerp can ya get me something with a lot of sugar in it, like that box of Lucky Charms or the Twinkies?" She leaned forward with her forehead against the wall and groaned when Finnegan placed a kiss between her shoulder blades.

"I got better; I made you one of those protein drinks and put ice cream in it." She handed her the giant plastic 64 ounce cup and the box of Twinkies. "I ordered us pizza and bread sticks from Dominos; it'll be here in a little while." She ran her hand up under Merc's kilt, caressed her nether lips and moaned at the wetness that covered her fingers. "You know First Sergeant Macgregor; it's a good thing you took the week off because you would never make it into the office." She fell back on the bed and watched her wife shiver and look at her from over her shoulder. "Drink up because we have 30 minutes before the foods here."
"It's a good thing my wills up to date because I don't think I'm gonna survive the week," she put her cup on the dresser, fell sideways onto the bed and ran her hand across Finnegan's stomach. "Just make sure that Tracy and Timmy don't fight over my Playboys it'd be a shame if any of them got damaged."

"Don't worry you'll be around to look at your nudy magazines, in fact I'll keep you around for a lot more than that." She pulled Merc over to her and wrapped her arms and legs around her. "And we're keeping the kilt; you're sexy as Hell in it."

The End
Class Separation
By Larisa
Hecate3366@frontiernet.net