Strange Foreplay

The police department was a busy place to be. Her shift should have ended long ago but, somehow she had been roped into staying another few hours. The police detective didn't need to be told that she would most likely be late for her date with her girlfriend.

With a weary sigh, Rachael answered the phone at her desk. "Yeah," she groaned. "This better be good."

"I'm in trouble," she heard the voice on the phone utter barely above a whisper.

Rachael sighed with a smirk. Her longtime friend saying that there was another crisis in her life was not a new occurrence. Sarah was always in trouble. When was she not?

"What did you do, now, Sarah?" Rachael had asked with a laugh.

Hours later as she drove home, Rachael wondered if perhaps she should not have been so quick to dismiss her friend's words as nothing more than Sarah overreacting to a minor problem.

"If this is nothing out of the ordinary," Rachael asked herself, "then why am I so worried about it? It doesn't make sense. Sarah is hiding something."

Resting her chin against her fist, she looked ahead to the steady traffic that was threatening to make her even more late for her date with her girlfriend, Gale. Unfortunately, this had not been the first time that she had not been on time for one of their dates.

Gale was beginning to become accustomed to it which Rachael couldn't say particularly settled well with her. Why should she be happy that her girlfriend expected her to be late? And yet, this was just a part of her life as a police officer. Things came up. She hoped that Gale would understand. Much to her surprise her girlfriend was doing just that which usually tended to be a problem with her girlfriends.

Battling traffic turned out to be more dangerous than any criminals Rachael had ever faced. She was more than happy, when she finally arrived to the safety of her home. This contentedness grew leaps and bounds as she enjoyed her hot shower.

It was just before 8:00pm, when Rachael jogged lightly down the front steps of her Dallas home, seeing a black convertible parked along the curb. She smiled at the woman, leaning against it with crossed arms.

"Is that what you're wearing?" Gale asked with a smirk.

Rachael looked down at her jeans and her white t-shirt. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" she asked. Her smile intensified as she drew closer to her lover. "You like me this way."

The twenty year old Latin woman looked away with both a blush and a smile. "Are you ready?"

Laughing under her breath, the police detective could not get over how obvious that subject change had been. Her lover was terrible about avoiding topics concerning emotions, whatever those happened to be, even something as simple as her liking of Rachael's clothes.

"Wanna take my truck?" Rachael pointed over her shoulder to the black Ram in the drive.

Gale arched her eyebrow as she looked over to the menacing 4X4. As a petite woman, a truck, especially a large truck with a roll bar, lights package and its— she winced— lift kit, was just too much for her. "Sure, lover. I've been practicing my pole-vault," she joked.

It wasn't a big surprise to her that Gale wouldn't jump at the chance to take her truck. Rachael knew that they would take her girlfriend's car which suited her just fine because Gale always let her drive the Corvette. When she was tossed the keys to the 1967 black convertible, she did not suppress her smile. She darted a kiss to her lover's cheek before eagerly pushing her out of the way so that she could move into the driver's side. Her eyes followed the young woman walking around to the passenger side.

Slipping behind the wheel, Rachael relaxed in her seat. A faint frown wrinkled her forehead.

"What's wrong?" Gale asked fastening her seatbelt.

Shaking her head, Rachael said, "Someone short has been in here."

Gale laughed as her lover adjusted the driver's seat to allow the room needed for her longer legs. "Someone short, huh?" she chuckled. "Damn those short people driving your car."

Giving Gale a wicked grin, Rachael nodded in agreement. "I'm telling ya. This car always has the seat way too close to the wheel. How am I supposed to drive with my legs all bunched up like that?"

"It's a mystery. I mean, who would do that?"

Rachael shrugged, starting the powerful engine with a rev. "I don't know but, if I catch 'em, someone's getting handcuffed."

Offering her wrists, Gale smiled. "Oo, I confess. I did it."

Playfully slapping her girlfriend's hands, Rachael took relief in their playing. It had been a long day and having this chance to unwind with Gale certainly helped a great deal.

"Come on," she said forcing herself to be serious. They were going to have a hour long drive north of Dallas to Sarah's country home. "We need to hurry or we are going to be really late. I told Sarah that—"

"Sarah?" Gale held up her hand, putting an end to her lover's sentence. "What are you talking about?"

"Sarah... you know my friend for years," Rachael reminded in a sarcasm-filled voice. "The woman that we are meeting."

Gale closed her hazel eyes, taking a long moment to collect her thoughts.

Rachael squirmed a bit under the silence emanating from her girlfriend. Silence was never a good sign, she told herself. She waited for Gale to speak and let her in on the reason that she was so upset.

"You forgot; didn't you?" Gale whispered.

"Forgot what?"

"I told you that we had plans, tonight."

Rachael knew that her memory was not always great but, she could not think of anything that she had forgotten. "Yeah, we have plans with Sarah."

"Dammit, Ray! That is not what we were supposed to be doing, tonight!"

"Well, then remind me what we are supposed to be doing."

Gale held her breath for what Rachael thought must have been just long enough for the woman to pass out. Then, finally after exhaling a long weary breath, she turned away. With a wave of her hand, she said, "Hurry, Sarah is expecting us."

Now, Rachael was upset. She hated, when Gale did that. It was like her girlfriend used some sort of on/off switch with her emotions. "Tell what you are thinking, Gale."

"Nothing," the younger woman mumbled.

"You're lying." Rachael arched her eyebrow. "Tell me."

"There is nothing to tell. Let's go."

"Not until you tell me what you wanted to do."

"I had made reservations for us. It isn't anything important, alright."

"If you thought enough to plan something out, then, yes, it is important." Rachael looked down at her watch. "Can we still make it?"

Gale turned to look at her lover with a mix of emotions in her eyes. None, more apparent than the surprise which showed so clearly. "Yeah but..."

"Okay, we'll go," Rachael promised. "Just as soon as we leave Sarah's house."

If it were possible for a person to growl as an animal does, Rachael was certain that her lover just had. She reached out touching her girlfriend's neck, knowing that it would calm the woman. That growl slowly turned into a soft purr as her nails lightly scratched along the nape of Gale's neck.

"I'm sorry, baby, but, this is business. I have to talk to Sarah. Then, I'm all yours."

"As you wish." Gale slipped away from Rachael's hand, staring out to the opposite direction.

Rachael arched her eyebrow. She hated those words, when said that way. "As you wish," in this particular instance meant that Gale was too weary to fight, that she was hurt but, would let this go because she didn't wish to drag this out any longer than necessary.

"It's going to be a long drive," Rachael grumbled as she pulled out.

A long drive, it had most certainly been. Conversation, tense to say the least, turned into arguing which ended the hour long drive in utter silence.

The tall raven-haired woman got out of the black convertible. Rachael let the door close with an audible slam, putting a very dramatic end to the argument that she and her girlfriend were having and had been having for the past half hour. However, in those last ten minutes, her girlfriend had hardly said a word. That was never a good sign. It was always a bit like the calm before the storm. Or— and she hoped that she was wrong about this being the case in this particular instance— it meant that her lover was not angry but, hurt. Either way, it was not good.

Looking over her shoulder to the woman, who sat sulking with her arms crossed, Rachael arched her eyebrow. Wearily, she shook her head.

Rachael didn't like fighting with her lover. Sure, she could hold her own in a fight. There was no denying that she gave as good as she got. Then again, she wondered, what enjoyment was to be had in arguing?

Leaning back against the car, Rachael crossed her arms. She looked down at her jean-covered legs, taking in the way that they were linked at the ankles. She could feel the first of that familiar pounding beginning within her temples. Damn, this day just kept getting better and better, she thought darkly.

"Are you coming inside, Gale?" she asked softly.

The younger Latin woman ran her fingers through her dark brown hair, staring into the other direction seeming to ignore her girlfriend with a weary sigh. After a long tension-filled silence, she spoke barely above a mumble.

"Do you want me to?"

"I'd like for you to." Rachael turned to see her girlfriend. "Sarah enjoys seeing you. It would be nice, if you came in to say, hello."

Rachael waited out the pause with a terrible strain collecting in her shoulders. Sure they were talking again but, that didn't mean that everything was suddenly better. Their conversation was forced now. It didn't feel the same and they both knew it.

Gale quietly got out of the car. She walked around to the driver's side to stand beside her lover. Although, her eyes avoided Rachael's at all costs.

Long raven hair framed the police officer's face as she narrowed brown eyes on her girlfriend. What is Gale hiding by avoiding my eyes, she wondered. "You okay to go in, now?" she asked in the same gentle tone.

"Fine," Gale answered so faintly that Rachael almost didn't hear her.

Rachael knew better than to believe that answer. She was about to press for another more honest response, when she noticed that the front door was slightly open. A tingling inside the pit of her gut told her that something was not right. Her eyes focused on the door, seeing that there was a black scuff near the doorknob. Acting on instinct, she reached for her gun inside its holster at her left side.

When Rachael withdrew the gun from inside her leather jacket, Gale turned to steel. She looked over her shoulder to the direction in which her lover was looking. "What's wrong, love?"

"Stay here," Rachael commanded, heading for the front door, gun drawn.

Gale started to protest but, a raised hand told her that this was not up for discussion. She watched nervously as her girlfriend disappeared silently into the house.

Rachael entered into her friend's home, seeing that everything seemed to be normal. That is, everything was normal except for that unnatural silence that seemed to always take effect, whenever something was not right.

Quickly maneuvering through the rooms of the first floor, she found that no one was here. Yet that nagging feeling stayed with her. A person racing through the dining room door caused her to aim her gun directly at the intruder.

"Rachael," Gale shouted before blanching once she saw the gun pointed at her head.

"Jeez, Gale. I coulda killed you!" Rachael lowered her gun. "What the hell are you doing in here?! I told you to wait outside."

"Someone is driving off!" Gale said pointing to the front of the house.

"Dammit, I lost 'em!" Rachael started to rush out the front door, when she heard something or rather someone moving around in the basement.

Gale's hazel eyes widened in fear. "Love, aren't you supposed to call for reenforcements or something," she asked nervously following her lover.

Rachael stopped at the door to the basement, feeling her girlfriend's hands resting upon her shoulders. She looked over her shoulder to the woman behind her. "Baby, they're called backup not reenforcements and I can't right now," she said.

For a brief moment, she was distracted by her lover moving away from her and then quickly returning. She looked back at her girlfriend then struggled not to laugh. "Are you planning on building a fire?" she asked referring to the poker in Gale's hand.

Gale smirked despite the gravity of the situation. "I am not letting you go down there by yourself," she whispered.

"This could be dangerous. You could get hurt."

Gale winked at her lover. "Like you'll let anyone hurt me," she smiled.

It was true. Rachael knew that she would never allow anything to happen to her girlfriend. She was just protective in that way. It was the only thing about her that Gale's family appreciated in their relationship. She forced her thoughts away from the General and that entire overbearing family, for now.

Taking in a deep breath, Rachael kicked the basement door in. Her mind immediately took in the depth of the basement and just how steep these stairs were. It would be so easy for someone to be injured.

She rushed down the stairs feeling their wobbling under her weight but, ignored it as she pointed her gun in every direction until she was certain that this particular angle was safe to turn away from.

"Police!" Rachael announced into the darkness. "Come out where I can see you. Do it slowly and keep your hands up!"

Gale walked slowly down the stairs, stopping midway. She didn't like the shaky feeling. "Detective," she said softly.

Gale knew that in certain situations her lover would much rather have the outside world see them as a bit distant to avoid people from using her as a means to get to Rachael. "We should go out to the car so that we can keep tabs on the other patrols coming. They will want to speak to you."

Rachael smiled to herself as she searched the basement. There were no other cars coming. She knew that. Gale knew that. However, if there was anyone listening in the shadows, they might be sweating bullets now. She tensed with the sound of creaking floorboards above them.

"Someone's back in the house." Rachael's brown eyes widened in realization. "Gale, out! We were set up!"

Rushing back to the stairs, Rachael pushed her girlfriend to move. When the door slammed close and locked, she couldn't believe that she had fallen for this. If she was a rookie, she might have expected for this to happen but, now... She had more experience than this.

Moving her lover to the side, the taller woman began ramming into the locked door. With each time her shoulder impacted into the door, she could feel the stairs sway.

Gale looked down at the steps beneath them. "Ray, these stairs aren't going to hold us. Stop!"

"What the hell did those bastards do with Sarah?!" Rachael asked emphasizing each word with a shoulder to the door.

Losing her battle with control, Rachael backed away enough to aim her gun properly at the door. She fired several shots around the outside of the knob making the lock virtually nonexistent. She looked back at her girlfriend, who was standing motionless midway down the steps. "Come on, Gale."

Gale shook her head slowly then held her breath in fear.

"What's wrong with you?!" Rachael jogged down the stairs stopping just in front of Gale, ignoring her girlfriend's pleas for her to stop. "What is it?!"

Before Gale could answer, the two women felt the stairs beneath them collapsing. They fell several feet to the hard basement floor. It might have helped, if there had been something to break their fall. Unfortunately, the only thing for them to use as a cushion were the remains of the stairs.

Groggily, Rachael rolled onto her side. She pushed up onto her elbow, taking a moment to shake the fuzz out of her head. "Gale," she said, trying to focus her eyes clearly.

The petite woman gave a hissed intake of air. "Still here, lover."

Rachael crawled over to her girlfriend with a concerned frown upon her face. She searched Gale's small body with her eyes. There did not seem to be anything that was broken. Gale might have a few scrapes and bruises but, for the most part, she was fine. Taking a bit of relief in that, Rachael rose to her feet, then, helped Gale to do the same.

There was only the smallest trace of light peaking into the basement now that the door was closed. Trying to keep herself busy so that she would not focus on killing whoever had been behind all this, the detective looked for a lantern or lamp of some kind. It was not long before she found a few candles and matches.

Rachael placed the candles sporadically throughout the basement all the while ignoring her lover's mumbling. Whenever Gale was upset, she tended to mumble. She knew that. It was not the first time that she had heard her lover doing this. However, with the frustration of their fight earlier, Sarah's house being taken over by whoever was now ransacking the place and being trapped in this basement, it was just too much.

"You know, Gale," she said in frustration. "Sometimes, you drive me nuts!"

Rachael looked across to the woman standing inside this dank basement with her. In the little light that the candles provided for them, she could just make out her lover's petite form. Her memory went back to that saying about things coming in small packages. Like dynamite, she thought with a mischievous smirk.

Her lover was a young woman, who never failed to make her believe that two Latin women engaging in a relationship was a dangerous endeavor, indeed. Two people with that much pride and that much fire just had to be an accident waiting to happen; right?

Gale stopped her scan of the basement and looked at her girlfriend with an arched brow. She ran her fingers through her dark shoulder-length brown hair. Her first response had been to yell out the first curse word that she could think of — whether that be in Spanish or English, she didn't care— but, she held strong against that urge.

"I feel the same way about you, too, mi corazón," Gale said in a silky voice that gave her lover chills.

Rachael quirked her brow in response to the sweet disposition that threatened to make her teeth hurt. "Okay, smartass. You aren't helping the matter. How the hell are we supposed to get out of here?"

Gale exhaled a long breath of anger. "Like I'm supposed to just pull a solution out of thin air or something."

"Why not pull it out of your ass like every other smartass comment that you've been pulling since we got trapped in here?" Rachael countered feeling mighty proud of herself for that one.

"Ray, if you weren't my girlfriend, I swear, I'd..." Gale raised her hands as though she might lock them around her lover's neck.

"You don't have the guts," Rachael taunted with an arrogant smile.

Gale howled behind clenched teeth before she finally gave in to a heartfelt laugh . "Damn, you give me a good reason to plead insanity at my trial for your murder," she chuckled.

"Hmpf, if you killed me, there would probably be a parade not a trial." Rachael's smile intensified as she felt the first of the tension beginning to subside. Their humor had always been a bit different than other people's tended to be but, it never failed to make them laugh.

Rachael was older than her lover, a fact which Gale reveled in reminding her girlfriend about whenever she needed a quick way to get back at her. Her tall body was envied by and lusted after by many which she knew. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she might have even prided herself upon it. She placed her hands on her curvaceous hips while looking around the dimly lit basement with concerned brown eyes.

"We're in trouble, you know," she announced rather calmly. There was no sense in trying to sugar-coat this.