Standing very close to her, and looking up into Jordan's clear, blue eyes, Mia said, "Do you honestly think I care?"

"Well... uhm... yeah, I do." Tilting her head, she asked, "Don't you?"

"There's only one thing I care about," Mia answered, staring right into Jordan's eyes, "and that's staying as close to you as I can until Monday morning."

"But, Mia," Jordan protested softly, "there are a lot of people here that we don't know. You don't know that these guys will keep their mouths shut."

"I only care about your mouth," the brunette vowed. "And after I take a little taste of it, I'm going to dance with you." She slipped her hand up Jordan's arm, slowly moving over her skin until she caressed the back of her neck and pulled her down with gentle pressure. Jordan's eyes grew wide as Mia's lips met hers, but the smaller woman was oblivious to the few surprised looks shot their way. She released her hold and took Jordan's hand, leading her to the small knot of dancers. Jordan's eyes started to shift around the s.p.a.ce, trying to see who was watching them, but Mia reached up and held her face between her hands, forcibly capturing her attention. "No one else matters. Just you and me."

The tall blonde took in a deep breath and let Mia's words sink in. "All right," she said, smiling warmly. "Just you and me."

Mia slid one arm around her back, and placed the other against Jordan's shoulder blade, holding her in a snug embrace. Jordan responded by draping her forearms across her partner's shoulders and loosely linking her hands behind her back. "How's that?" she asked, pulling Mia towards her slightly.

"That's perfect." Mia's chin lifted, her warm, brown eyes met Jordan's, and a flash of deep sadness pa.s.sed between them. "I don't want you to go," she whispered, her voice catching.

Pulling her even closer, Jordan's lips pressed against her curls as she murmured, "I don't want to go. I want to stay right here with you." Pulling back just a little, she looked into the watery eyes and said, "Oh, please don't cry, Mia. Please."

"I'm sorry," Mia sniffed. "I can't help it." She dashed into the house, tears streaming down her face, Jordan in hot pursuit.

Jamie saw them run up the back stairs, but she had no idea what had happened. Looking around the dimly lit backyard, she spotted her partner, sitting in an Adirondack chair that she had maneuvered into a quiet, dark corner. "Honey?" she asked as she approached from the side.

Ryan sniffed and wiped at her eyes, turning to meet Jamie's concerned gaze. "Hi," she said.

Climbing into her lap, Jamie draped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"Nothing... really," Ryan said. "I was just watching Mia and Jordan dance, and I started to feel so d.a.m.ned sad." She let some of her feelings out, resting her head against her partner's breast and crying for a few moments. "This is so hard for them, and it breaks my heart to see them both in pain."

"You poor, sweet, baby," Jamie sighed, rocking Ryan a little in her arms. "It's really hard for you, too, isn't it."

"Yeah. Harder than I thought it would be. It really hit me tonight, Jamers. I mean, I knew that Jordan was important to me, but it dawned on me how much I've come to think of her as family."

"She's the sister you never had, isn't she?" Jamie asked, rubbing Ryan's back.

"Yeah. That's what it feels like. She 'gets me' as much as my brothers do. I mean, G.o.d knows that you know me intimately, but Jordan understands my motivations... what drives me."

"I know," Jamie soothed. "I know she fulfills a role that I can't, and I know that it'll be very hard for you not to have her here. But you can still stay close, baby. You can call her, and e-mail her. You don't have to let the distance keep you from getting what you both need from each other."

Ryan nodded. "I know it's possible, but it won't be like it has been. We have our best chats when we're running together or working out. We both talk better when we're active."

"You talk just fine when you're sitting in a chair in the back yard," Jamie teased gently. "You're gonna have to work at it a little bit, but staying connected to Jordan is worth it, isn't it?"

"Uh huh," Ryan nodded. "It's definitely worth it." She offered up a weak smile, and said, "Sisters don't come along every day."

PART 7.

"WE'RE LEAVING IN one half hour," Ryan threatened from outside of Mia's closed door late the next morning. "I know you're in there, you two. I can hear you grunting."

She flinched as a shoe hit the door with a thunk, but she at least knew that they had gotten the message. Jamie was already downstairs, studying with deep concentration. "Did you make contact?" she asked idly.

"I got something thrown at the door, so I know they're conscious," Ryan said with a chuckle as she sat down next to her partner to read the paper. With ten minutes to spare they heard the shower start, and at noon on the b.u.t.ton the pair came flying down the stairs - hair wet and only partially dressed, but at least they were present.

"Coffee," Jordan choked out. "Gotta have coffee!"

"We drank ours hours ago," Jamie chided her. "But if you get in the car like good girls, I'll stop at Sufficient Grounds for you."

"You're a G.o.ddess," Jordan intoned reverently.

"Why did you waste all that time in the shower?" Ryan asked.

Jordan turned and stared at her in shock. "Do you really think it's wise to go to a Raider game covered with the scents we were covered in? That's like throwing a pork chop to a pack of hungry dogs."

Ryan laughed as she recounted, "There was a little boy in my grandmother's town that no one liked because he was such a little cuss. She used to say that his mother had to tie a pork chop around his neck to get his dog to play with him."

"Your grandmother sounds like quite the character," Jamie said with an amused grin.

"That she is," Ryan agreed.

"Enough reminiscing," Jordan said. "There's a triple latte at Sufficient Grounds with my name on it."

Traffic was congested around the stadium, but they got to bypa.s.s most of the gridlock with their valet parking pa.s.s. "Have you guys ever been to a game?" Ryan asked as the red-jacketed valet accepted the Lexus from her.

"I went to a Raiders game when I was little, and they were in L.A.," Jordan recalled. "How about you, Mia?"

"Nope. I've been to the Niners, but never the Raiders. I hear the crowd is kinda wild," she said.

"You might say that," Ryan chuckled. "But we've got the Stadium Club pa.s.s, so we can hide out up there."

"Where's the fun in that?" Mia asked. "I want to soak up the local ambiance."

"You might change your mind," Ryan predicted as they presented their tickets at the gate.

"Metal detectors?" Jamie asked as they were led through the device. "What are they looking for? Uzi's?"

"Nope. Just your average Raider fan," Ryan a.s.sured her as a yellow jacketed security man did a quick pat-down on each of them.

"Remind you of your recent altercation with the Oakland police?" Jamie asked loudly.

"If I see one of these guys snap on a rubber glove, I'm bolting!" Ryan declared with a shiver as her eyes darted to the ham-handed behemoths.

The boys and Maggie were already in their seats when they finally located them. "We've been here about 20 minutes, and the crowd is already out of control," Brendan said. "I think we should go up to the Stadium Club."

"I agree," Ryan said looking around. "We're the only women around here so we'll be targeted."

"Oh, come on," Jordan said. "We're not at San Quentin. How bad can it be?"

"I think it feels more like a football game to be out in the stands," Jamie said. "I hate it when we sit in the luxury boxes at Candlestick."

"Let's stay and give it a go," Conor said, looking to his brothers for support. "We can protect the girls."

"Against all these guys?" Brendan asked with his eyes wide.

"We can take care of ourselves," Jordan said confidently. "Don't you boys worry about us."

"Okay," Brendan said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll make a run for beer. Who wants one?"

Since everyone wanted one, four people had to go as there was a two-beer limit. So, Ryan, Conor and Brendan and Rory went to get in line for beer, while Jordan got in the longer food line.

"So, things are still hot and heavy between Jordan and Mia?" Conor asked as they waited.

"Yeah, I think so," Ryan agreed, not wanting to get into that particular discussion with her brother.

"I still say Mia's just my type," he muttered.

"I don't know her very well," Brendan said wisely, "but she seems like she's a lot of people's type."

"Yeah, she's a cutie all right," Ryan agreed.

"Come to think of it," Rory decided, "I think she could be my type."

"She's busy, boys," Ryan reminded them. "Give the girl a little room, will ya?"

"You know, I shouldn't admit this, but she's even more attractive to me now that I know she sleeps with Jordan," Conor said.

All three sets of O'Flaherty brothers' eyes rotated and fixed onto Jordan as the oblivious woman waited in line. She was looking particularly attractive today herself, wearing bright red jeans that hugged her curves, and a creamy white angora turtleneck that highlighted her impressive b.r.e.a.s.t.s to very good effect. "I'm gonna pop the first one who drools," Ryan threatened as the men ineffectually tried to wipe their conjured x.x.x-rated images of Jordan and Mia from their minds.

After they had procured the beer, they went over to the food line and waited patiently for Jordan to finally be served. "G.o.d! The prices are bad enough!" she grumbled, "but it takes 20 minutes to get a hot dog!"

The game against the Kansas City Chiefs had started just after they got in line. Luckily there were TV monitors all over the concession area, since most of the crowd spent at least one quarter of the game waiting in the obnoxiously long lines.

Their seats were, of course, excellent ones. Located just off the 50-yard line in the lower deck, Ryan a.s.sumed that they would be surrounded by lawyers and businessmen. Even though she knew the crowd tended to be rough, she a.s.sumed that most of the rowdies would be confined to the cheap seats. But since Raider games had garnered such a well-deserved reputation for drunken fights, most businesses had a hard time getting clients to even accept the tickets. It was unclear to Ryan whether the corporations and law firms had given the tickets to the drunken men around them, or if they just migrated from the upper deck, but by the time they got to their seats, she was on the verge of punching a few guys. She and Jordan had been whistled at, leered at, and ogled during the long walk, and she knew her friend had a very limited tolerance for that sort of thing. To Ryan's amazement, Brendan had actually shouted at one particularly offensive patron, and she began to wish they had just gone directly to the Stadium Club.

They were almost at their section, and she was watching the game with one eye as Oakland was churning down the field in an impressive drive. They pa.s.sed in front of the metal railing that guarded the front of their box, and handed the food and drinks up to Jamie and Mia. Even though they were in the front of the section, the small women had to stand to see above the crowd that constantly snaked in front of them. "I can't see!" Mia complained for the tenth time. "I need to be taller!"

The drunks in the seats just behind them immediately offered a clever solution to her plight. As Jordan, Ryan, Conor, Rory and Brendan watched helplessly, the laughing brutes grabbed Mia around the waist and picked her up high into the air. "How's that, babe?" the largest one asked.

"Put her down!" Jamie shouted in outrage as she impulsively reared back and popped the man in his ample gut.

"Oh s.h.i.t!" Ryan cried as she grabbed the railing and hoisted herself up. Before she could swing her leg over, the smaller man had grabbed Jamie in much the same fashion, and her short, st.u.r.dy legs began kicking violently as she screamed. Ryan made a leap for her, but the smaller man was at least 6 foot 3 inches tall, and one whole stair higher than she was. Jamie's boot caught the guy right in the chest, and he quickly decided that he wanted to get rid of his trophy. But rather than putting her back down, he acceded to the wishes of the a.s.sembled mult.i.tude who were chanting, "Pa.s.s 'EM UP! Pa.s.s 'EM UP!"

The smaller man and his mammoth companion decided that was a fine idea, so they handed their squirming, kicking prizes up and over their heads to the laughing pair of men behind them. Jordan had scrambled up after Ryan, and they stood helplessly as their girlfriends rose through the crowd. "f.u.c.k!" Ryan shouted. "Jordan, you and Conor take the right aisle, I'll take the left with Brendan." She looked at Maggie and Rory and decided, "Maggie, you go get security. Rory, go to the top of the section and try to grab them if they get that far." Jordan jumped back down and grabbed Conor's hand as they took off. Ryan jumped back down too, and ran around to the left aisle. They couldn't hear each other with the crowd noise, but they communicated with hand signals. Ryan indicated that Jordan should go up a few rows and try to intercept Mia as she was pa.s.sed up. The blonde ran up three rows and snaked through the raucous crowd, trying to be in position to grab her lover, but the men who were partic.i.p.ating in the game just altered their path and started pa.s.sing Mia up at a diagonal. As Jordan tried to run back to the aisle, her a.s.s was grabbed so many times she felt like a pincushion, but she ignored the a.s.saults to focus on her goal.

It didn't take long for the yellow jacketed security officers to start swarming all over their section, but they only served to get in the way. There was really no way to make the ebullient men stop, and the loudly barked orders to do so were met with derision, profanity and raucous laughter. The captives were still fighting valiantly, and it became clear that many of the men who pa.s.sed them did so just to avoid being kicked or punched. The lead officer on Mia's side started yelling at her, "If you just relax and stop fighting, they'll let you go, ma'am."

To Jordan's complete amus.e.m.e.nt, Mia cried, "f.u.c.k you!"

"They haven't broken her spirit," the blonde laughed to Conor.

Ryan was at the boiling point as dozens of men grabbed her precious lover in the most inappropriate of ways. She could see a few of the particularly lecherous ones grab her a.s.s firmly, but when a guy only three spots in from the aisle leaned way over to squeeze one of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, Ryan snapped and leapt for him. He was just straightening up with a stupid, leering grin when his big dumb face met her powerful right hand. As soon as that happened, the crowd went wild. Fists started flying as Ryan and Brendan were both pulled into the melee. The crowd loved a fight much more than they liked to grab unwilling women, and by the time Jamie and Mia reached the top row of their section, the security guards were in position to reach over and grasp them by the shoulders. Jamie's last captor didn't want to let her go though, and she was pulled from both ends until she finally wrestled one foot free and kicked the jerk right in the head. He let go immediately, but the guards who held her shoulders didn't realize it and kept pulling firmly. When the resistance on her legs was released, she went shooting forward and landed on a ma.s.sive pile of yellow-jacketed flesh with a loud thump. Mia scrambled over and helped her to her feet just as Jordan and Conor arrived. Jamie threw her arms around Conor as Mia did the same to Jordan, much to the delight of the frenzied crowd. "d.y.k.es! d.y.k.es!" they shouted. "Kiss her, baby! Give her a hot one!"

Jordan had reached her capacity for insults, but she had one left in her own a.r.s.enal. "Suck my d.i.c.k!" she bellowed as she grabbed her crotch in a very obscene fashion.

"Uhm, ma'am," the calm voice of an Oakland police officer interjected.

"What?" she growled.

"It might be a good idea not to incite them," he suggested gently. "Once they know they've upset you, they get a lot worse."

"Fine," she groused. "But you'd better give us an escort, or somebody's gonna get kicked in the nuts!"

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a smirk as he and his partner tried to clear the aisle.

Jamie had come to her senses, and she looked around wildly, her hair flying around her head. "Where's Ryan?" she cried.

"I don't know," Conor said. "They were right down there a moment ago." He pointed down the aisle they were trying to traverse, and his impressive height allowed him to catch a glimpse of his sister's dark head flying around in the crowd. "Oh, s.h.i.t!" he cried as he took off running.

Jamie started to take off after him, but the police officers had seen enough of her feistiness, so they grabbed her and Mia by their collars and ordered a security guard to do the same to Jordan. All three women tried to wrestle out of their holds, but the officers a.s.sured them, "If you three get down in that mess we'll never get you back!"

"But that's my girlfriend!" Jamie cried as Ryan jumped onto a seat and let loose with a roundhouse punch against some jerk's head.

"She looks like she's doing all right," the other officer said dryly.

Conor jumped onto the seat next to her, and seconds later Brendan's dark head, then Rory's fairer one, popped up right behind them. The four of them stood back to back to back to back, with such fierce glowers on their dark faces that the crowd actually backed off from them a bit, looking for easier targets. There were at least 50 security guards on the scene by this time, and Jamie watched helplessly as the police ordered the O'Flahertys down from their seats. Bright yellow plastic bands were snugged around their wrists, binding them behind their backs. "You can't arrest them!" Jamie cried. "They were attacked!"

"We'll sort it all out in the lockup downstairs, ma'am," he a.s.sured her.

When it became clear that the melee had calmed down, the officers allowed the women their freedom with the admonition, "Don't start any more trouble, you three. You can come down to the lockup to claim your friends."

"Start trouble my a.s.s!" Jordan fumed under her breath. "Let's go get our food at least," she muttered. "Being mauled really works up an appet.i.te!"

They got back to their seats without further incident, but when they looked down and saw eight empty beer cups, eight wax paper wrappers smeared with condiments, four empty bags of peanuts and four empty Cracker Jacks boxes all neatly lined up in their cardboard carriers, Jordan almost started the entire fight up again. "Which of you motherfu..." she started, but both Jamie and Mia clamped hands over her mouth as they pushed her back down the aisle.

They endured constant catcalls as they tried to exit, since they were now the celebrities of their section, but they got to the lockup without further trouble.

Luckily the officers who had been holding the O'Flahertys immediately moved to let them go free. Still, when Jamie saw them emerge from the lockup with sheepish grins, she nearly burst into tears. Brendan's lip was split, with blood running down his chin onto his white golf shirt. A large red mark marred Rory's cheek, Conor's left eye was rapidly turning some interesting shades of blue, and Ryan had angry red marks on both cheeks and her chin, not to mention the b.l.o.o.d.y nose she was trying to control. "Anybody for the emergency room?" she asked lightly as Jamie threw herself at her. "Watch the ribs, babe, watch the ribs!" she cried, wincing audibly.

"My G.o.d!" Jamie cried. "What happened?"

"Hard to say," Ryan admitted. "I saw some a.s.shole grab your breast, and everything after that is a blur!"

"My heroes," she said gratefully as she hugged each of the battered warriors. "You're idiots, but you're still heroic!"

They decided their injuries were not serious enough to merit a trip to the E.R. Doctor Terry was at home and didn't mind making the short walk over for an impromptu check-up and a beer. He p.r.o.nounced them all fit, but chided them all for trying to take on the entire Oakland Coliseum.

Once the doctor had given them proper lectures, he couldn't help but compliment the crew. "I bet that lot of rowdies didn't know what hit them when the O'Flahertys got involved."

"No one messes with the fightin' O'Flahertys," Conor boasted. "Our women are tougher than their strongest men!"

Ryan took a look at her friends and suggested to Doctor Terry, "Now that you've checked us out, maybe you should have a look at Jamie and Mia."