Break Time

The night was unusually hot for Northern California. Even in the air-conditioned cruiser, heat radiating up from the black asphalt left ripples in the distant headlights. Fortunately, the heat had not brought its usual companion: people acting crazy. Indeed, the night was especially quiet on the latter part of the last shift (according to briefing) and was approaching downright boring two hours into the graveyard shift. That suited Belltamo just fine.

Bell, as most people called her, had had a rough day before late night shift at work. The sink drain had broken while she was replacing the garbage disposal (She had managed to repair both.); the cat had gone into labor (and, by now, had either delivered kittens or 'meowed' her furry little head off); a call from an old friend brought news of an illness but she had no way to go visit in Montana on her current budget; and, she'd made an off-duty arrest at the local convenience store. The last had really topped off her day.

Some jerk had not only picked her favorite store to hit, he'd hit it just as Bell was coming in for aspirin. Nobody had tipped off the guy when she entered the store (Everyone around knew she was a Highway Patrol officer.) and she had the time to casually draw her weapon and wait for 'Bozo' to start to leave. He had his revolver down and uncocked when she'd wrecked his day. The city police arrived about 20 seconds later and she had been treated like a hero. It pays that the 'local girl done good' was well liked. And, her report would save local cops plenty paperwork. By the time she had gotten to her shift, two complete shifts of troopers had heard about the arrest and had placed a great big banner over her locker and balloons all around. She felt wonderful; for a 7th month rookie to be treated so well was almost unheard of. Bell was all smiles until well into her shift and then the exhaustion hit. She had missed hours of sleep to complete the arrest paperwork. Now, restlessness threatened to make the night endless! Her territory stretched for hundreds of miles through the rural northern valley and tonight's heat was not helping at all. She was about to call in for a rest break when an incoming call stopped her.

"All units within the vicinity of Petterten see the late model Dodge Stealth, bright red, unknown California plates, believed to be headed north towards Petterten. Suspect is white male..."

Bell checked the road markers and noted that she was less than 15 miles east of Petterten. She radioed dispatch to advise she'd be close soon. But she noticed the 'moving darkness' of an approaching car driven at night without headlights in no more than a few seconds. She watched the 'phantom's' approach with growing concern: dispatch had been right except the car was moving very fast.

It was too late to make a 'blind U' to get in position to pursue without being seen (or hit!) first, so Bell waited for the car to pass her (Yes, it was a red Stealth.), and she 'lit the tree' by turning on the red lights and the siren. After a high speed U-turn, she radioed dispatch exact positions of the suspect's car and her cruiser and that she was currently in pursuit. She also started Lamaze. The controlled breathing and relaxation exercise was what she had used to stay calm and steady while training in the academy with cars and weapons. Her trainers and the other rookies never saw her flinch or shake once. If they knew that she was pretending she was having a baby, they would have died laughing. But, Belltamo was known as "The Rock" throughout training and in her first few months on the streets.

That training brought her closer to the Stealth rapidly, although he certainly knew she was coming now. He began to take bigger risks in passing other traffic on this 4-lane stretch of highway. Two near crashes and Bell decided to turn off the pursuit lights and drop back, letting him think she'd broken off the pursuit. Now, she looked much like any other car in his rear view mirror.

Then, using cars that she'd let pass her, she 'slid' forward once again, all the while gaining ground although pursuit like this was extremely dangerous to people not paying attention.

'OK friend, this is where you and I get acquainted,' she thought. He'd slowed to around 80 miles per hour when she rocketed past him, slipped in front and re-lit 'the tree', which put a bright yellow light in his face while she slowed the cruiser slightly and brought its rear into contact with the Stealth's front bumper. Then, Bell braked hard and slouched in her seat, bringing both cars to a smoky, screeching halt. She was out of hers (on the passenger side, just in case) with her weapon drawn for a second time tonight when the suspect, a teenage boy, jumped out of the Dodge screaming, "Don't shoot me! Please, don't shoot me!"

Bell had him arrested, cuffed, and secured in the back of her cruiser in less than 2 minutes. Moments later, CHP, local police and sheriffs were everywhere. And, also for the second time that night, Bell found herself surrounded by law enforcement patting her on the back. She slowly gravitated towards her fellow 'CHiPS' and tried to melt into the sea of uniforms.

"Great job." The speaker was another CHP officer that was much like the rest except that this one was also a woman. Tall (around 5'10," Bell guessed), of medium build and with flowing brown hair just a bit too long for regulation, she had the easy manner of a veteran cop and the smile of an unjaded long-timer. Her tag said that she was G. Stanton.

"Thanks, but it wasn't much," Bell muttered.

"Not much, my ass. It's one thing to see a cop take on something like this alone but it's a serious trip to see a rookie do it. And, bottom line, there are only four of us women in Northern California. We need to make a good showing like this to piss off the 'old school' men's club."

With genuine gratitude, Bell offered her hand and said, "Thank you. I'm..."

."..Belltamo, Lisa. But, everyone calls you 'Bell'. I know: the rest of the women on duty have been following your progress and you are already something of a minor legend. No woman has gotten through the academy like you did, with guts, compassion, and nerves of steel. We were very proud of you."

"Well, to tell you the truth," Bell said quietly and to just Stanton, "I had a secret weapon. Lamaze."

G. Stanton looked at Bell and both started to laugh. The cops close by looked puzzled, but a CHP sergeant looked their way and started towards them.

"Shit!" Stanton breathed without moving her mouth, "I never see Grey in the field and he caught us laughing. Stay calm and quiet."

"Stanton. Belltamo," he (from his shield. now clearly identifiable as Sergeant D. Grey) acknowledged the officers. "Obviously, you've had a busy day, Belltamo. Between this afternoon’s off-duty work and tonight, you’re a credit to the uniform. I think we can wrap this up without you. You and Stanton take an extra hour for lunch and I'll call in the authorization for some extra ‘off’ time. Good work, Belltamo."

Stanton nodded as he walked off, turned to Bell and said, "He is the acting president of the 'old school'. You have just managed to make your life a lot easier!” Stanton exclaimed enthusiastically. “Come on. For lunch I'll show you a little secret since you're not from around here."

Bell gratefully agreed; finding good food and quiet places around the route had been an ongoing challenge.

With Stanton leading, they drove into the hills for a while and came upon a small, remote building with no windows, but an attached garage. Stanton got out and opened a small, well-hidden access panel. Exposing a keyless entry port, she punched in two sets of alphanumeric codes to open the garage, into which they drove both cruisers and closed the door.

As she started a mini tour, Stanton said, "This is a RFS, remote field substation. As you can see, it's just like the city stations, complete with on-line computer terminals, laundry room, showers, sleeping quarters. It's just totally unstaffed. It is, however, completely stocked with supplies and lunch will be served in about 15 minutes."

Stanton took the prepared meals out of a well stocked refrigerator and began 'customizing' them, adding grated cheese, fresh ground pepper, and the like from the freshly restocked refrigerator and spice cabinets.

"Excuse me, but this whole thing is not the stuff people read about at the academy. What gives?" Bell asked in wonder.

"This little place and two just like it are owned and operated by the local civilians in their respective communities. Taxpayers aren't in the loop, so there is no official record of these little beauties. But, they really make the difference out here 40 miles from the nearest Burger King, and even it closes at 23:50!" Stanton explained.

Lunch was great and they talked like schoolgirls throughout, getting to know some of the details of each other’s lives and sharing experiences with the CHP. Stanton excused herself to wash while Bell started to clean up the compact but efficient kitchen area. When she had finished, she turned to see Stanton leaning against the door jam, idly watching her. Bell met her gaze and started for the restroom that Stanton had just vacated. Stanton casually moved in front of her, blocking her way. Bell's expression never changed as she said, "I need to wash up, too."

Stanton remained in the doorway for a long moment, then moved to the side to let Bell pass.

When Bell returned, Stanton was standing in the middle of the room, still with the look of calm, idle observation. Bell stood where Stanton had before and casually leaned against the door jam. Seconds turned to minutes as they stood facing one another. It was Bell who finally spoke.

"What kind of security does this place have?"

"There's a local alarm company with 24/7 monitoring, if the alarm is tripped. That can’t happen since we were logged in using the keypad."

"What time is it?"

"It's 03:22 and that's 93 minutes from the end of (thanks to you!) our long lunch break."

A pause, then Bell: "I'm not…"

"Neither am I."

"Then what’s up, Stanton?"

"I…just… need to, Lisa. And, it's Gwen."

"Will you be OK?"

"Of course. You?"

"I think so. When?"

"Now."

Lisa didn't move and Gwen waited a moment, then slowly walked towards Lisa. When she was nearly towering over Lisa's 5'5" frame, she stopped. Lisa never looked away from the gray eyes Gwen held her with. Lisa slowly unclipped her weapon and removed it, placing it on the counter beside her. Gwen did the same, never looking away from Lisa's soft brown eyes. Lisa reached behind her back and removed her handcuffs to place beside her weapon. Gwen did, as well. And, with all the seriousness of a formal arraignment, Lisa asked, "But will you respect me in the morning?"

Both women burst into laughter and, when they’d finally settled down to casual chuckling, they carefully looked at each other again, both smiling.

Although it was Gwen who led Lisa to the small but comfy sleep area, it was Lisa who acted as the 'veteran' while Gwen played 'rookie'. Lisa very slowly and gently removed Gwen's tie, shirt, and bra while Gwen did the same for her, pausing to softly kiss Lisa’s breasts. Lisa unstrapped Gwen's heavy belt, opened her pants, and slid them down Gwen's long legs. And, with pants around their ankles, both women unlaced each other's shoes, pulled them off, and then slid off their own pants and socks. Standing in just her panties, Lisa knelt behind Gwen and fondled her hips slowly as she slipped down Gwen's panties. Lisa stood again and Gwen nuzzled the center of Lisa's underclothes, then removed them, as well.

Gwen took her cues from Lisa and tried to be as sure of herself as Lisa seemed to be. Gently laying beside the smaller woman she ever so slowly brought their faces together to brush lips. A soft moan from Lisa as she closed her eyes was all Gwen needed to know. Fully embracing the other officer, their first “real” kiss was one of deepening passion as they both opened their mouths to whet their mounting curiosity.

Letting themselves mellow and cool, Lisa slowly reopened her eyes to see the subject of her first feminine kiss and a small smile utterly obliterated her customarily staid expression with joy. Gwen’s returned smile reassured both that their newfound intimacy was a mutually desired and shared pleasure.

Gwen slowly lay back, brushing her breasts against Lisa’s as she gently encouraged Lisa to bring her head to them, a subtle request with which Lisa eagerly complied. Lisa, looking down at a beautiful and completely nude female body in a bed with her for the first time, kept her eyes open as she caressed Gwen’s left nipple with her tongue and lips, watching and feeling it harden and rise in response. And Gwen let a hand slip along Lisa’s extremely firm hips and thighs, ever so gently exploring her contours with touch.

Lisa brought a hand to meet Gwen’s and pushed it closer and firmer on her thighs, slightly undulating against Gwen’s body, moving with the liquid grace of a cat: moving closer, moving away, moving closer again. She then opened her legs slightly and guided her lover’s hand to her inner thighs, feeling the coolness of Gwen’s fingers rubbing along the warmth where her legs had grown much warmer from the heat they were generating rubbing together and from her own excitement.

Gwen looked down, between them and Lisa’s gaze followed, both taking in the view of their two hands intertwined and pressed so intimately between Lisa’s thighs. Lisa closed her eyes and moaned ever so lightly and Gwen took that to mean she must have been doing the right thing to please her fellow officer. She slowly brought her leg up and between Lisa’s, just far enough to open the space where their fingers danced a slow waltz, close enough to entice another quiet moan from Lisa who opened her legs much wider and moved into and between Gwen’s legs with one of her legs as well. This time, with their passions fully kindled, they kissed like virgin teenagers on a third date: with complete abandoned, forgetting all in the world around them. Nothing exists but love through racing hearts, passion now unfettered by newness of another body, and the illusion of slowing time.

In their writhing, Gwen noticed (as if from afar) her hand has been pushed tightly up, up as far is it can go between Lisa’s legs. Feeling her smooth and shaven sex, her moans join the guttural sounds Lisa had started to make with a greater frequency, greater urgency. And as soon as she felt the dampness of Lisa passion, she broke the kiss and palmed the delicate moisture while again looking down between them. She gasped and Lisa slipped her hand to the place Gwen had been silently begging her to.

Lisa encountered a wonderfully enticing bloom of very light downy brown hair (which, she observed, is clipped a lot neater than the hair on Gwen’s head) and stifles a spontaneous laugh with a kiss on her cheek. Gwen doesn’t appear to notice and Lisa looks down again to see Gwen’s fingers shiny with their loaned wetness, then looks to her own hand and sees that it is as well.

Lisa ever so slowly teased her middle finger between Gwen’s steamy wet sex and Gwen immediately opened her legs wider while closing her eyes, moaning louder and biting the right side of her own lower lip. Lisa felt Gwen’s need rise with a new urgency and both heat and more soft wetness raise the arousal of both women. Lisa became a bit bolder and allowed another finger to enter Gwen while the three others either caressed outside her lover’s hot warmth or slowly slipped into and out of Gwen’s arching body, probing for the tight bundle of bliss-inducing nerve endings on the upper inside. She soon located it and Gwen’s eyes rolled back in her head, her breathing becoming ragged and rapid. And as Lisa gently teased, stroked, pet and encouraged, Gwen began to orgasm with wave after wave of impossibly wonderful bliss coursing through her body. Lisa played her body like concertmaster plays an instrument and she became a part of that instrument - moving with Gwen, both guiding and following her all at once – and finding the feelings she imagined happening within herself as well.

Lisa didn’t even notice when Gwen entered her, so wrapped up in her offering of pleasure that she was taken by surprise by the mounting orgasm her own body raced towards. And, together, the lovers rode the same roller coaster of delight but seemingly in different cars: one rising and cresting the apex with the other falling and pressed into the nadir only to inverse their perspectives and race onward. As often moving with the same individual goal as not, they managed to be two distinct shores with waves arriving on the same beaches,

Lisa tried to be as gentle as she could to her senior officer. But, in the end, both women responded to the deep, undeniable need to explore, to comfort, to please and to enjoy. Mixed with fathomless passion, they played, loved, and drown beneath the waves of their own choosing.

* * * * *

Two days later, Bell got a private message on her in-car computer's email. The message confused her for a moment; it had no author listed and showed no point of origin. Soon it clicked, though, and Bell slipped her cruiser through the light traffic on the summer's hot asphalt, to a road near the border of her assigned range, somewhere outside of the rural town of Petterten.