"Great game, slugger," Jordan said as she ruffled Ryan's hair. "We'll all be there to root you on at U.S.F. on Monday night."

"Thanks," she said, stifling another yawn. "I'll see you there, if I get up in time." Jamie shot a concerned glance at her and shared another with Jordan, as Ryan climbed the rest of the stairs with an uncharacteristic slump to her shoulders.

It was nearly 10 a.m. when Jamie looked up from her income tax textbook to see Ryan begin to stir. "Hi," she said quietly as she got up and went to sit on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

Ryan blinked and rubbed her eyes while she made little mewing noises for a few moments. This persona was one of Jamie's favorites, and she looked forward to the rare occasions that she saw this childlike behavior. As expected, Ryan's voice was small and rather high pitched as she squeaked out, "I feel gooder."

"Ohh, my little cuddle bear looks like she needs some hugs. Does she?"

"Unh-huh," she said as she happily nodded her dark head and extended her arms. Jamie got back into bed, and cuddled with her partner's warm body as she could feel her begin to wake fully. It was just like watching a complex mechanical system warming up; she could feel muscular tension move up the long body from her toes to her head. By the time Ryan launched into her stretching routine, her mind was fully functioning, and she looked at the clock in amazement. "G.o.d, I'm setting some new records for laziness here."

"Not laziness - sanity," Jamie reminded her. "When your body conks out like that, it's because it needs it, honey. It's really not optional."

"I've gotten better at seeing that," she said thoughtfully, "but it's still hard to get the guilt feelings to go away."

"I know, but it's important to sleep when you need it, even if it does make you feel guilty."

"I guess things could be worse," she teased her partner as she snuggled her nose against her chest. "Being forced to be in bed with a beautiful creature like you is not such a bad thing."

"Hey, if you want to spend any time with your beautiful family, it's time to put your sweet little b.u.t.t in gear," she admonished as she patted the bare bottom.

"Be ready in ten," Ryan promised as her feet hit the floor.

Even though they spent the afternoon and evening with the family, it wasn't quality time, since Ryan spent much of the day dozing in front of the television in Conor's room. After dinner they retired to the bedroom so that Jamie could get a little studying done. Ryan was still so fatigued that she didn't even pretend to study. She put some soft music on, and lay down on her bed next to her lover. Jamie was determined to get in a few solid hours of work for her income tax final, since it was scheduled for bright and early Wednesday morning. It took all of her powers of concentration to be able to study with her partner dozing lightly and curled up next to her, but by 10 o'clock she'd managed to make a sizeable dent in her preparations. She had been idly running her fingers through Ryan's dark hair for the last half hour or so, but she wasn't actually paying much attention to her. "Well, I guess we should get going," she stated as she stretched the kinks out.

A look down at her partner's peaceful face brought a smile to her own. Oh, she's so pretty when she's asleep, she thought fondly. I hate to wake her, but I know she'll be wide-awake as soon as I move. She scooted over and slid off the bed, fairly amazed when Ryan did not flinch. Boy, that doesn't happen very often, she mused. Well, since we don't have cla.s.s in the morning, I guess we should just stay here. She walked into the bath and got ready for bed, a bit stunned to see that Ryan was still out cold. She went upstairs to tell Rory they'd stay the night, and she made a quick call to Mia so she didn't worry. When she went back down she pondered the situation for a moment. Gosh, I hate to wake her just to undress. She reached over and felt her partner's back. Hmm, she's wearing a sports bra... that shouldn't bother her too much if she wears it all night. Making a decision, she went to the closet and took out a heavy wool blanket and a top sheet. She settled the sheet over her lover, and drew the blanket up as she crawled back into bed. Ryan remained asleep, but her body unconsciously reached for Jamie when she sensed her presence. That's such a nice way to tell me she loves me, she thought happily as she snuggled up to the warm body.

Even though they were in finals week Scott wanted the team to meet for practice, so Jamie dutifully drove over to Berkeley early on Monday morning, then went back to NoeValley. Upon her orders, Ryan had reluctantly agreed to sleep in, and Jamie was pleased to find the dark beauty still horizontal when she returned. "You can get up now, princess," she announced, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I'm awake," Ryan a.s.sured her. "I've just been dawdling."

"It's 9:30," Jamie told her. "Take your shower and I'll get us a little snack. Then I've got to start working on that income tax stuff again."

They both worked for a couple of hours, and after a quick lunch, the determined blonde pushed her partner back towards the bed. "But I don't want to take a nap," Ryan's childlike voice protested.

"I don't remember asking you if you wanted a nap, sweetheart. I'm ordering you. So just lay your little sweet self down, and rest your head on my lap."

"Do I get a head rub?" she asked, as she looked up at her partner through her half lidded eyes.

"Yes, you do," Jamie replied indulgently. "But only if you stick that pouty little lip in," she threatened as she kissed the protuberant lower lip.

"Okay," she sulked. "But why do I hafta lie down? It's only one o'clock."

"I know. But you need to be at the gym by five, and I want you to have a good long nap and a good meal before you leave. I don't want you collapsing again tonight, love."

"Okay," Ryan agreed as she got into bed. She shuffled around in the big bed for a moment before she looked up at her partner with a s.e.xy grin. "I think I need a sedative," she drawled in a deep voice.

Jamie smiled and spent just a moment regarding the child/woman who gazed up at her. When Ryan was in this mood, she tended to skitter between pouty five-year-old and h.o.r.n.y 24-year-old with startling frequency. "I'll make you a deal," she promised as she leaned over and kissed her lightly. "I'll make dinner for you at four. If you go to sleep right away, I'll please you in any way that you wish if you wake up before then."

"Any way?" the very s.e.xy 24-year-old asked with a devastating leer.

Jamie gulped audibly and nodded slowly, hoping that she could handle whatever she was getting into.

She never got to find out what Ryan's s.e.xy leer represented, since she almost had to throw cold water on her partner to get her out of bed at four. "I don't wanna get up," she groaned as Jamie grasped her hands and tried to pull her into a sitting position.

"If you don't get up, you won't have time to eat. You haven't had much fuel today," she reminded her.

"I've been asleep the whole time," she complained. "When did I have time to eat?"

"Come on," Jamie cajoled. "I have something good for you..."

"What?" she grumbled.

"Italian comb..." she began; but before she could finish the word, Ryan was scooting across the bed and running for the bath.

Well, I guess she's in favor of that!

Ryan had not actually spoken to Coach Hayes, but she had left a message for her as soon as her brain was functioning that morning. She left her home number, and her pager, and asked the coach to call her if she had a problem with Ryan getting to the game on her own. Her message was quite detailed, explaining that her family's home was just minutes from U.S.F., and that she was still fighting a serious bout of fatigue brought on by her having to stay up all night to take her math test. She didn't hear from the coach, so she a.s.sumed that the woman realized the folly of traveling to Berkeley just to ride on a bus to return to where she had started from.

The team bus was leaving Cal at four, so they left shortly thereafter to make sure they arrived before the rest of the team. Jamie had never seen U.S.F., so she decided to accompany Ryan to the game and wander around the campus while they did their warm-ups. The gym wasn't even open when they arrived, so they walked over to a campus map where Ryan explained the layout of the plant. At a few minutes to five the Cal bus pulled up, and they walked back to the players' entrance to wait for the team. Most of the players were polite, and a few were even friendly as they milled around to wait for entrance. Jamie was just about to kiss her goodbye when Coach Hayes walked up. "25 lengths of the gym, Ryan," she said conversationally. "You can do them before or after the game."

"P... Pardon me?" she asked.

"You missed the bus. You know the rules," she replied flatly.

"But I called you..." she started to say, but the coach held her hand up to cut her off.

"Everyone rides the bus. That's the rule. Calling me to tell me you're going to break a rule is no excuse, Ryan. I expect better behavior from a senior," she said dismissively.

Ryan shot a look at Jamie and, with a second to spare, firmly clamped her hand over her fuming partner's mouth. "Am I still starting?" she asked while Jamie squirmed under her grip.

"Yes."

"I'll do the laps after the game," she said with a thin smile. "I don't want to wear my legs out."

"Fine," Coach Hayes replied. "But you'd better make them quick. The other players hate to wait." She turned on her heel, and strode into the entrance, leaving them standing right where they were.

"Of all the bone headed..." Jamie started, but Ryan just leaned over and kissed her lightly.

"I can take care of myself, babe. I knew she had a bug up her a.s.s about the bus. I just figured she'd be decent enough to call me back if there was a problem."

"Stupid fu..." she began again, but Ryan bent once more to cover her lips with a kiss.

"If I don't get in there, it's going to be 50," she warned. "Let me get out while I'm ahead."

"So you can't even ride home with me?" Jamie asked petulantly.

"Babe, she has a rule about us making eye contact with people in the stands. This is all part of her odd ideas about discipline. I'll see you when I get home," she said softly, giving her a tender kiss. Jamie's eyes were burning with anger, but Ryan gently reminded her, "This is my first time starting, honey. I don't want to screw it up."

Reluctantly, Jamie's expression softened, and she nodded. "You'll do great. I'm proud of you, Tiger."

The largest rooting section of the season was on hand for the tip off. Since the game was so close to home, all of the uncles, aunts and cousins were in attendance, as well as Catherine. Nearly the entire volleyball team also made the short drive, after stopping to pick up a delighted Jennie. When everyone had arrived, they comprised at least a quarter of the total crowd, and the buzz was audible.

Jamie sat with Conor on her left and her mother on her right. Jordan and Mia were right in front of her, along with the rest of the volleyball team. Catherine placed her hand on Jordan's shoulder and said, "I was so pleased to hear that you were given the chance to try out for the national team, Jordan."

"Thanks, Catherine," she said with a big smile as she turned in her seat. "I'm pretty excited about it."

"When do you leave?"

"I'm taking off next Monday morning. I got permission to take two of my finals early, so I'll be finished with school as of Friday."

"Oh my, that's so soon," Catherine said.

"You're telling me," she heard Mia mutter glumly. Catherine bit back a smile and refrained from commenting. She knew the young women were physically intimate, but she didn't feel comfortable revealing her knowledge to either of them.

"It's exciting to see Ryan finally start isn't it, honey?" Catherine asked, turning to her daughter.

Conor poked his head out to comment. "This might be her first start, but it won't be her last. I don't know what the normal starting forward did to her, but Ryan's made it a personal vendetta to keep her b.u.t.t on the bench."

Jamie and Catherine were taking Caitlin for a spin around the gym when the teams came back out for their short warm up before the opening tip-off. Jennie had not seen Ryan since she got the good news about Sacred Heart, and her childish enthusiasm got the best of her as she scampered down the stands just as the players went to their benches for final instructions. The starting players sat down, with the rest of the team and the coaches all gathered around them. The band was playing very loudly, and Coach Hayes paused impatiently to let them finish their number. Jennie came bounding up behind Ryan's seated form and poked her head around to give her an enthusiastic kiss on the cheek. As Ryan turned around she graced her with a wide smile, and patted her hand. She was still wiping the grin off her face as she watched the young woman turn and run back to her seat. Coach was still waiting for the band, but as Ryan turned around to face her she encountered a fierce scowl leveled at her. The coach made a hand signal that was punctuated by one word that she mouthed. "Fifty."

Her play left little doubt that Ryan was not only trying to secure a starting job, but was also making an emphatic point. She was not only a human scoring machine, she played defense with an intensity that was truly stunning. Conor and Brendan had been keeping up such a running commentary on her game that after ten minutes had pa.s.sed, Jamie and Catherine got up and put Conor right next to Brendan so they could converse without leaning over them. "One thing I love about Ryan's game is that she's the only woman I've ever seen who uses head fakes on defense," Conor laughed.

Maggie had watched more basketball games than she could count, and she joined in on the conversation. "Her defensive skills are head and shoulders superior to any other woman on the court," she said. "How did she develop them?"

"It helps to have twelve older cousins and three older brothers," Conor said with a chuckle. "We all played basketball, and since she was always the shortest player she had to develop her ball handling skills and learn to play very aggressive defense. She played at the point in all of our pick up games, so even though she plays forward at Cal, she still has the instincts of a point guard."

"My favorite part of her game is when she gets her volleyball and basketball skills mixed up," Maggie chucked. "I thought the woman she was guarding was going to swallow her tongue when Ryan slapped the ball back at her like she was serving a volleyball. There's nothing I like more than watching a single player disrupt the rhythm of a whole team, and Ryan does that just beautifully," she said with admiration. "Too bad she doesn't want to go to law school. She could be a lethal trial attorney."

Conor bit his tongue before he was tempted to tell Maggie just where on her list of potential careers his baby sister would place "attorney". Instead he forced a smile onto his face and just nodded.

As the halftime buzzer sounded, Catherine stood and stretched for a moment, then turned to Jamie as if she had just had a thought strike her. "Would you girls like to go to a football game on Sunday?" She reached into her purse and pulled out some tickets.

"Uhm... sure. Are the 49ers home?"

"No, but your father left his Raider's tickets with me. He has eight of them. Would you like them, dear?"

"Sure," Jamie said.

"Conor?" the younger woman teased as she held out the tickets and tickled his nose.

"Yeah, I'd like to go," he said.

"Go where?" Mia asked as she turned around. "I want to go, too!"

"Mia, you don't know where we're going," Jamie reminded her.

"No, but you only go cool places, so I want to go, too," she said logically.

"We've got eight tickets," Jamie informed them. "Jordan? Would you like to spend your last day in town at a Raider game?"

"Yeah," she said after a moment's consideration. "It'll help me not miss the Bay Area so much," she said with a chuckle.

Jamie turned to Conor and asked, "Do the other boys like football?"

"Yep. Rory, more so than Brendan, but Brendan likes it well enough."

"Works for me," she said as she scampered down the row to propose the event to Rory, Brendan and Maggie.

The second half quickly turned into a rout, and the subs got into the game with almost ten minutes left. Ryan was replaced by Wendy - who, as expected, did not offer Ryan a towel or acknowledge her in any way. Jamie noticed the tiny smirk that crossed her lover's face as she went to take her seat and thought, Got a news flash for you, Wendy, if you're not nice to her, you'll never play again, you jerk!

Jamie had told the family about Ryan's punishment, and the news was not received in a very enthusiastic fashion. "She what?" Martin shouted.

"She has to run 25 laps of the gym after the game," Jamie repeated tentatively.

"That is the stupidest, most asinine, imbecilic..."

"I know, Martin," she soothed. "But she wants to play, and she wants to be able to start, so she needs to go along - no matter how stupid it is."

"Where did this idiot learn to coach?" he continued, "In reform school?"

The family was getting antsy, waiting for the end of the game to watch Ryan run her laps. By now Janae was the only starter playing, and that was mostly because they didn't really have an adequate backup center.

Play was getting sloppy this late in the rout, and the players seemed less focused than normal. Cal had Janae, Wendy, Lily, Hilary, and La Trice on the court, a team that had never played as a group. They looked pretty ragged on their first possession, and La Trice threw the ball out of bounds on a fairly simple pa.s.s to Wendy. As usual, Wendy was the soul of graciousness, barking out a loud criticism at La Trice as they ran back down the court to defend their goal.

Ryan didn't know much about La Trice, but the woman seemed very ruffled by the incident. La Trice was a senior, and she just didn't seem to have the fire that a good point guard needed. Ryan had noticed that she played tentatively, even in practice, and this evening's production didn't do much to change Ryan's opinion.

On the next trip down the floor, the guard tried to thread a pa.s.s through some traffic and hit Janae for a shot from the post. Ryan could see her friend's eyes widen as the ball came to her. The pa.s.s was a good two feet too high, and Janae jumped as high as she could to snare it. Her defender went up with her, while another player cut behind them to guard Wendy. There was a lot of traffic under the basket, and somehow Janae caught her foot on someone as she came down. Ryan felt all of the moisture leave her mouth as she saw the inevitable collision play out in front of her eyes. Janae landed on her b.u.t.t at the same time the other player hit the floor, and their heads banged together so hard that the crack was audible throughout the gym.

The student trainer was on her feet, running across the court before the two women slumped onto the unyielding floor. Coach Hayes was right behind her, while Lynette got to her feet and tried to keep the rest of the team on the bench. The anxious players strained against her, but she wanted to make sure that the medical staff could a.s.sess the situation without distraction.

Ryan turned and caught Jamie's eye, and the smaller woman's heart immediately clutched in pain for her partner. Ryan looked both frightened and powerless - two emotions that she didn't handle particularly well. She mouthed just two words. "It's bad." Jamie nodded somberly, watching Ryan turn around stiffly to watch the scene unfold.

It was obvious that both players were unconscious, since neither had moved a muscle in the moments that pa.s.sed like weeks. Jaleesa turned to the women on the bench and said, "We have to pray for them." She reached out, and every player except for Janet joined hands and bowed their heads, letting Jaleesa's words of praise and blessing calm their souls, if not their emotions. Janet broke away from the group and stood on the court with Wendy. The pair looked concerned, even frightened, but neither had any interest in sharing their feelings with the rest of their teammates.

Two rolling gurneys were brought out, and cervical collars were carefully attached to both women to circ.u.mvent any additional spinal damage. Ryan was beside herself with worry - mostly because she had been the recipient of so many similar injuries and she knew it was a very bad sign to be out for this long.

Everyone on the Cal sideline breathed a collective sigh of relief when Janae's fingers began to move as she was wheeled away. She was having a tough time, but Ryan realized that she wasn't just twitching - she was trying to wave - and the gesture became even clearer a moment later. "She's awake!" Jaleesa cried. "Thank you, G.o.d!"

Coach Hayes came back to the bench and said, "She's awake, and she can move her hands and feet. The other girl looks like she's coming around, too. I think she'll be okay - probably a concussion, but nothing too serious."

Ryan gave her a look - knowing just how serious a concussion could be. She was surprised when the coach returned her glance and said, "Go in for Janae."

Her surprise was so great that Ryan actually looked over her shoulder to make sure that one of the centers wasn't standing behind her. "Me?" she asked weakly.

"Yes, you," the coach said sharply.

With more than a little trepidation, Ryan walked over to the scorer's table and checked in. She shot a glance at her family and met Conor and Brendan's puzzled looks, adding one of her own. "Is she going in for Janae?" Jamie asked the boys.