Stormwatch - a Party of Four

"I think Veronica has a boyfriend," said Terri McCarthy. She was "elbow deep" in a server trying to upgrade a cooling control board, the unit that controls the seven onboard cooling fans of each server. Terri is a young Canadian girl of medium height and average weight with straight jet black hair cut at shoulder length. She says she's such a badass that she cuts her hair with a chain saw, and the jagged edges of her hairline make that claim seem plausible. She's a great technician but she will say the strangest things just to get a reaction out of people.

"Yeah, I know," said her manager, Josh Gravely, "It's me, I'm her boyfriend. Are you ready for this controller card or not?" He had the replacement for the controller in a static proof bag in one hand and a tech bulletin from the server manufacturer in the other. He was following the steps of the replacement process carefully, these controller cards cost over two thousand dollars each and he didn't want any mistakes.

"No really Josh, I was being serious." Terri has huge dark brown 'anime eyes', a narrow face and a tiny pointed nose giving her a mousy appearance. As she got the last screw removed and was freeing the old controller card she said, "I think she's seeing someone. She's suddenly all happy n' shit."

"Ground yourself," he replied before taking the old card from her, "what makes you think that it isn't me?"

Terri touched the grounding point on the work bench preventing any static electricity from harming the new circuit card. "Serious Josh!" Terri was wound up, ready to share the wisdom and knowledge that her twenty-one years on this earth has bestowed upon her "First of all, you're like a half a million years older than her, and secondly, she was a fashion model! She travelled all over the world! She's way out of your league."

"I've travelled all over the world too," Josh insisted as he held the work light for Terri.

"Yeah, and shot the shit out of it, she was Miss America for fuck's sake!" Terri insisted as she started to line up the screws to install the card. Jake was part of a gun crew on an AC-130 gunship and deployed to dozens of hotspots around the world and took part in military actions some of which will remain classified long after he's dead. Personally, Terri thinks that military people were mindless robots, hitmen and murderers working for corrupt, evil regimes. But she also thinks that Josh is pretty cool so he's the exception that proves the rule, and therefore it's obvious (to Terri) that gunships must be ok. Also, her hero Veronica van Köster always dances at company parties with a man who is a major in the NY National Guard and wears his dress uniform when they dance, so the NY National Guard must be cool also. What she doesn't know is that Veronica wasn't Miss America, she didn't make the top ten, so she remained Miss Ohio.

"You need to look for someone a little closer to your style," Terri continued. The card was in, now came the hard part, putting the server back together. The cooling controller card was buried so deep into the server's architecture you had to take much of it apart to get to the card which wasn't much bigger than a man's pocket comb.

"What about you? What are you doing Friday night?" smiled Josh, knowing what she would say, and she didn't disappoint.

"ME? Whoa baby, you're still punching 'way above your weight class. You need to find someone who you can get all weepy with over

Miracle on Thirty Fourth

Street and be asleep in bed before nine thirty."

"I cry at the end of

It's a Wonderful Life

," said Josh as he held a cooling duct in place for Terri to secure with several screws.

"See? Everyone knows that movie is a laugh riot. There, I'm gonna fire it up and see if it works." Terri hit the power switch and the server came to life. With all those cooling fans inside of it, it sounds like a hover craft more than a computer.

Josh heard a beep, so he checked his work phone and found that he had just received a message from Veronica which said, "Do you have a minute?" He looked at Terri with what he hoped was a nervous look on his face and said, "I'm going to ask her to dance with me at the party," as he typed a response to Veronica the Executive Assistant to his employer the founder and CEO of Andalon.com.

"You're what?" Terri made 'what' sound like "WAAAAAA?"

"I am, she just texted her and she wants to speak with me. While I'm over there I'm going to ask her."

"Oh, I GOTTA see this!" grinned Terri. She turned to Jennifer Combs, her "partner in crime," a field technician who seemed to spend most of her time in the server room with Terri. Jen looks like what Terri calls a "twinkie:" long thick blond hair, hazel eyes, very cute face with pointed chin, short with a delicious hourglass figure; she looks like she's a high school cheerleader. She's got a bubbly personality but rarely says anything unless asked directly. She's actually 10 years older than Terri with several degrees and is one of the best network engineers that Josh has ever met, her specialty is designing and maintaining their customer's in-house networks. "Come on Jen, we gotta see this. Mister Gunship is going to get shot down again!"

"That's

Sergeant

Gunship to you..."

"Ok!" chirped Jen and she with Terri tagged along behind Josh as he wound through the code writers "bull pen," through the marketing area with the salesmen making their calls and bragging to each other about their recent contacts, finally to "executive avenue" where the doors opened to a lush waiting area and the grandiose main entrance. There were five doors to the three different vice president's offices, the CEO Anthony "Ant" Friedman's office, and between the VPs and the CEO's office is the office of Ant's executive assistant, Veronica van Köster.

Veronica was heading back to her office from the break room with a hot cup of tea. Tall, trim and beautiful, a full lion's mane of blond hair, brown eyes, a beautifully proportioned face, and a dazzling smile. As she approached she saw Josh with Terri and Jen standing outside of her office door. Veronica gave them a stern look and said to Josh "We need to talk." She opened the office door and held up a hand, "Give me a moment." She swept into her office leaving the door ajar slightly.

After a long nervous pause, Terri whispered, "I don't think this will be a good time to ask."

"Naaah," said Josh quietly as they waited, "it'll be fine."

"Mr. Gravely, come in please," Ms. van Köster called from the depths of her executive office.

"Hope you have your flack vest on," said Terri softly in a sing-song voice as she tried to follow Josh into the office.

"Just you Mr. Gravely," said Veronica without looking up from her desk, "and close the door behind you."

Josh closed the door as Terri held up an imaginary bugle and hummed a few bars of "Taps." Just as the door clicked closed the electronic sign next to the door switched status from 'Out, be back soon' to 'Conference, do not disturb.' At Andalon.com doors are rarely locked, normally the sign will simply say 'In Conference' meaning you can poke your nose in if you have pressing company business. Do not disturb is rarely used, Terri has been working with Andalon.com since she was in high school when Andalon was a little computer repair company in Buffalo and she has only seen do not disturb a handful of times.

The founder and CEO of Andalon.com, Anthony "Ant" Friedman stepped up to his office door along with his wife of many years Marjorie. Ant is a short, smiling, happy-go-lucky kind of guy with a sharp sense of business and a passion for customer satisfaction, but also with a deep love of everything Sci-Fi. His wife Marjorie is taller than Ant, she too always carries a smile. She's tall and thin with barely a hint of breasts and a thick mane of black hair with a streak of gray on each temple. Considering the fact that they have seven children, Terri is surprised her hair isn't all gray. "Good morning, Terri, Jen, what's up?" asked Anthony cheerily.

"We come to watch Veronica shoot Josh down, but she locked us out of the office!" whined Terri. Jen nodded in agreement.

"Oh? asked Marjorie, "Why would Ms. van Köster want to shoot down Josh?"

"She called him into her office and Josh said he was going to ask her to dance with him at the party. It's going to be awful!" Terri grinned in morbid glee. Jen nodded in agreement as she and Terri followed Ant into his office. Anthony's office was a shrine to Science Fiction

"That sounds serious, I hope Mr. Gravely doesn't get too discouraged," said Ant as he tapped on the connecting door to Veronica's office and peeked in. Inside her office he saw Josh sitting on a chair facing Veronica's desk and Veronica was straddling Josh's lap. The couple was enjoying a deep, passionate kiss. Without breaking the kiss Veronica waved her fingers at her boss.

Ant closed the door and turned to Terri and Jen. "She's really giving him a hard time about something," he said with a sad expression on his face and hoping against hope he can hold the laughter back.

Marjorie, who had peeked over her husband's shoulder agreed. "She is certainly giving him the business." Her expression "the business" was their euphemism for sex which Marjorie and Anthony used when 'little ears' were listening. Anthony's cough of stifled laughter told Marjorie that her husband understood her insinuation.

"Ok, you two are welcome to stay," said Ant desperately trying to restrain the laughs. He moved to his desk as the company VPs started to walk into the office, "we'll be discussing upcoming billing cycles..."

"That's ok," said Terri as she ushered Jen toward the door, "I've got to go uh... water the servers, yeah, that's it, and Jen needs to do... technical stuff." Jen nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile Josh and Veronica finally broke their kiss, Josh's head was spinning, he loves it when this beautiful woman is aggressive, and this kiss was a shining example of the sexual demon they have released. For years she was a toy of powerful men, she sort of enjoying sex, but deep down she knew it could be better. Then came the day that Josh told her, "You drive, I'll try to keep up with you," and her entire outlook on sex changed, instead of fitting into a mold that this guy wants, she met a man who will let her be Veronica.

"Mmmm, that was wonderful," he whispered in her ear as they nuzzled, trying to catch their breath.

"Have you found a place for us to practice yet?" she asked breathlessly as they broke their kiss. They needed room to practice for their dance at the company holiday party in a few weeks. Veronica was an outstanding dancer; ballroom dancing was her talent for the Miss America pageant, and she always dances with her dancing coach at the company holiday party. It has become sort of a tradition, no one dances until Miss van Köster shows everyone how it's done.

They can't practice in Josh's 600 square foot apartment and the only room in Veronica's house big enough is filled with a pool table, so they're looking for places to dance. "I was going to ask my buddy Paul if we can use the loft in his barn," Josh began but a disparaging look from Veronica almost stopped him in his tracks. Yet he continued, "My buddy Gus, who's a contractor in Springville..."

"Mr. Didomissio?"

"Yeah him. He said that the floor in Paul's library is perfect for what we need. It's a big empty room in Paul's house, let's go look at it right after work."

Five minutes later Josh stepped out of the office with Veronica behind him. Seeing Terri and Jen waiting in the reception area Veronica quickly dropped her smile. "I don't think we need to cover this anymore," she said firmly then closed the door behind him and turned to join the billing cycle meeting in Ant's office.

Terry and Jen were standing in the reception area, and they saw the whole thing, "Wow, that was brutal!" grinned Terri as they hurried up to Josh. "What happened when you asked her? Did she slap you?"

"No, she informed me that she always dances with some army guy," said Josh, which was the truth however they established that fact last week when they were stuck in the building during the blizzard.

After work Josh swung by his apartment and grabbed some clothing, threw it in a duffel bag and headed south to Springville, the next sizable town on "The 219." There he swung by Veronica's house where she saw him coming up the street and trotted out to the curb to meet him. She was dressed in a designer ski jacket and a warm, fluffy knit hat which somehow looked warm and insulated yet also accentuated her athletic figure. She ran out to the curb and hopped into his Jeep. "Mmmm, God! You look like such a snow bunny," he said as they kissed.

"I've been told I fuck like a bunny too," she whispered in his ear and nipped his ear lobe.

"Who would say such a crude thing to you?" asked Josh in faux shock.

"I think that was you on Saturday night, you know in front of the fireplace? After all that wine and sex?"

"Come on snow bunny, let's go dancing, then maybe dinner at Worzil's?"

The snow was falling gently as they drove around the park across from Veronica's house and pulled up in front of a huge Victorian home two blocks from her home. The house was amazing, it was huge with a massive covered porch around three quarters of the house, it was surrounded by a waist high ornate iron fence bedecked with holly garland which had little clusters of red lights. The front window of the house had to be fifteen feet tall and it framed a huge, spectacular Christmas tree. "Your fishing buddy Paul lives here?"

"Yep, he's an Air Force veteran too," said Josh as he opened the iron gate surrounding the front lawn and escorted Victoria up to the front door. "He used to be a flight surgeon, the sworn enemy of us fliers."

"Why is that?"

"It was his job to weed out those of us unfit to fly, and being on flight status adds a healthy chunk to your paycheck. We think they work on a quota system kicking out X number of fliers a week."

"The tree is marvelous!" she gasped as she viewed the huge Christmas tree gracing the stately front windows. "Is he home?"

"Not sure, but I think his brother John is here, I saw John's car in the driveway." He rang the doorbell and waited. Soon the door opened a crack and two tiny blond girls peered up at Josh and Victoria. They didn't look any bigger than a pair of three-year-olds. Josh crouched down and said, "Hi ma'am, is Doctor Paul here?"

The twins looked at each other and muttered to each other a bit in an unintelligible babble then looked at Josh and said "No!" then they slammed the door closed.

"House elves?" asked Victoria, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Josh shrugged and pressed the doorbell again. Again, the door opened, and the two darling little girls looked up at him. "Hi ladies," said Josh as he crouched again, "is Pastor John here?"

Again, they looked at each other and muttered again in their own personal form of speaking then turned back up to Josh, "Unka John?" they asked in unison, their faces brightening.

Josh nodded good naturedly. "Yeah, Uncle John."

Their faces turned to scowls, "NO!" and they slammed the door closed.

"You certainly have a way with children," laughed Veronica.

"I've been told that," he said trying not to laugh. The sound of a dog barking inside gave him an idea. He rang the bell one more time. When the door opened this time, the girls looked angry. "Hi girls," said Josh without crouching this time, "is my old buddy Wonka here? I've come to see him."

Suddenly they brightened, "Wonka? Sure! HERE WONKA! Come here boy!" and a bouncing chocolate lab decorated with adhesive Christmas ribbons bounded up to the door, obviously happy to see an old friend who might rescue him from the adoration of these two girls.

As Josh greeted his old furry friend a French-Canadian voice from deep in the house called "Sandy! Madeline! I told you to stop playing with that doorbell!" the owner of that voice soon appeared in Josh's line of sight. "Is that you Josh?

Entrez s'il vous plait

, come in before you freeze to death."

Josh stood and led Veronica into the house and she was immediately shocked by the grand staircase leading upstairs where she could see the walkways leading to the different bedrooms. To her right was the huge Christmas tree in a very formal parlor, to her left was a living room torn from the pages of history. The furniture was 1950's style, there was even a floor cabinet TV that the twins were probably watching, someone had clearly removed the insides and replaced the tube with a flat screen TV. To top off the early style living room there was an aluminum Christmas tree in the corner that rotated slowly, it was illuminated by a floodlight that changed colors via a color wheel. This was obviously a memorial to something or someone.

A tall, beautiful, and very pregnant black woman with that endearing French accent stepped out of the parlor and gave Josh a huge hug. He said to the woman, "Macy, I'd like to introduce..." He was interrupted by Macy's sudden gasp.

"Veronica van Köster?"

Veronica looked at her uncertain for a moment then said "Marie-Claude? Marie-Claude Solange Dagenais? They were suddenly hugging and gushing "Oh my God, I haven't seen you since the Black Velvet shoot! How long ago was that?"

"Ohhh

mon amie

, too, too long ago, and it's just Macy now, Macy Jerecki."

Veronica nodded, "it's just Ronnie now, what are you up to? Besides making a baby?" She gently placed her hand on Macy's belly feeling the new life within.

Josh was suddenly on the outside of the whole conversation. He looked down on the twins who were just as confused as he was. "I guess they were buddies at work," said Josh.

"Uh huh," said one of the little girls

"My mommy has a work friend too, but we got stuck in the snow," chimed the other twin.

"Yeah, she and poppa Paul got all kissy," said the first twin.

"Kissy, kissy, kissy." The twins began puckering their lips as they said "kissy."

Josh chuckled, the twins were talking about events that happened a year ago that changed their young lives forever. Veronica had heard the chatter behind her and said, "Work buddies? we only shot together once, but we were active at the same time, and we knew each other's work."

"Come on you two," Josh said to the twins, "Show me poppa Paul's library," and led Veronica through the family room which looked to Veronica like an homage to 1950's middle class America. "Paul says that this is exactly what the living room of his childhood looked like in the 80's." Then they entered a large open room, the walls were lined with bookshelves that appeared to half full. The center of the room was a beautiful wooden floor and the far end of the room was a large fireplace. There were a few comfortable chairs with reading lights at the edges of the room but with the exception of a Barbie Dream Castle and accessories, the floor was empty.

In her beautiful French accent Macy explained, "This is a, how you say, suspended floor. Mister August said that it is not connected to the house, it is mounted on huge springs."

"A sprung dance floor!" Veronica gasped. Josh just shrugged, he heard Paul mention it in the past, but he never explained why it was sprung or what the significance of the springs was. "In the late eighteen hundreds these were all the rage. They would have these big dance parties and..." she searched for a way to explain it. "Dances where the thing, people would go to dances weekly, like a bowling league or something like that. The sprung dance floor gives you a softer feel, it prevents fatigue and shin splints. Early dance floors were bouncy, so it made some dances quite entertaining."

"Like a line dance?" asked Josh as he set a blue tooth speaker on the mantle over the fireplace