Chapter 9

Elaina got a kick out of Rob's story of Jessica's reaction to the change in his look and the subsequent vote to allow Rob to keep the ponytail. Rob commented that he was lucky there was no policy about hair length, citing that it was the sexual harassment policies that had forced the hair-length policy to be removed. She got an even bigger charge when he described Jessica's offer to come back from the other side.

"Do you think she's serious?" she asked when she'd calmed down.

"It's hard to tell with Jess," he remarked thoughtfully. "Doesn't really matter. There is a policy regarding office romances. It's generally overlooked if everyone involved behaves, but I think if she and I were to hook up, there'd be no avoiding fireworks."

"That's a shame," Elaina commented. "I think that might have been interesting."

"Have you seen her?" Rob asked incredulously.

"Yes, I believe I have," she answered calmly. "You described her once as an 'Amazon.' It fits." Rob shook his head in disbelief.

"Dawn called me at lunch today," Rob said. "She said it looks like Monday's are off for the next while. There was another branch meeting and it doesn't look like there's going to be a change any time in the near future."

Elaina commiserated with him and privately decided she was going to make it for Monday lunches from now on, if she could.

On Tuesday, Rob checked in with the accountant handling the Zeller case and found her frustrated.

"It's like there's this great honking sign saying 'Look at me!' There's something missing here, but I can't see it. The only real indicators are that the office is underperforming compared to the rest of the branches in the network. If this was a single-office operation, we wouldn't even have that." She hung her head in frustration. "I just can't find it."

"Give it time, Carla," Rob said kindly. "It's only been a day. These things can take weeks to pin down. You're going to have to go over all the figures. And don't forget to compare the projections with the actual revenues."

He walked off after helping out for a short time, leaving her feeling no better but with a greater determination to find the root of the problem.

He walked into Tony's expecting to meet Dawn for lunch, and he was surprised by the profusion of red, pink and white hearts scattered about the room. Even as he was scanning the room, he saw Deidra taping a streamer to the front of the take-out counter. It suddenly occurred to him that Valentine's Day was coming and he'd done nothing about it. Yet. He was debating turning around to go back to the office when Dawn walked in with Elaina on her arm, or vice-versa. He couldn't tell, he was so wrapped up in concern for his neglect.

Elaina noted his distraction, and seeing where he was looking, arrived at the correct conclusion.

"Don't worry, sweeting," she whispered to his ear. "Roses are always welcome." He looked at her in shock, amazed that she could read him so well.

Deidra walked by and for no apparent reason said that florists were experiencing a rush on long-stem roses, and they might run out before much more time had passed. She wandered off smiling like an angel. Rob spotted Tony standing behind him with an attentive look on his face, and he wondered if the message had been for him at all.

The three enjoyed lunch together, even if Rob was a little distracted. He came up with an idea and wondered to himself if Elaina could pull it off. He knew that, through contacts at work, he could still get reservations to an exclusive restaurant for Friday night. He was determined to give it a try and talk to her about it later. He could always cancel it she didn't think she could pull it off.

They said good-bye at the taxi stand, Dawn gracing them each with one of her patented kisses, then Elaina walked him back to work. Her kiss at the door nearly drove his worries from of his mind, and it was only when he saw the rose on Brenda's desk that he remembered what he needed to do. He made arrangements with the florist the company used for a dozen roses to be delivered to Dawn at work on Friday. For Elaina, he arranged to have them delivered to his office. He didn't know if she'd be home to receive them, so he decided to deliver them himself.

Then he got busy making arrangements for the restaurant. He contacted Bob and was told that the standing reservation was still available. Next he called the restaurant to set up the reservation and any other arrangements needed. He tried to think if there was anything else he should do, then he consulted with Brenda and Jessica when he drew a blank. It turned into an office-wide affair. It wasn't long before a consensus was reached that what Rob had planned would more than suffice. The general opinion was that any more than that would be too much: romance was the key, not how much was spent.

Rob thanked them for donating their time at company expense, causing a round of laughter, then he advised them to get back to work before Bob noticed. Bob had noticed, and he'd decided the boost to morale was more important.

With his plans set in motion, Rob relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the day.

At breakfast the next morning, Rob advised Elaina of his plans and she assured him she'd find a way to make it work. While she tied up his hair, he mentioned he had class that evening and he'd be late getting back. She asked him about taking up the sword, and he told her he had meant what he'd said. She left the table for the bedroom.

When she got back, she was carrying a long black-lacquered leather-bound scabbard in her hands.

"This is a Japanese katana," she said. "It was given to me by a samurai back in the late sixteen hundreds when Svetlana and I visited Japan." She smile fondly at the memory. "It was one of the very few times we shared a man between us."

Her gazed focused when she sensed Rob's unease. "That was four hundred years ago, sweeting. You have no reason to be jealous," she assured him.

"I'm not sure it's jealousy I'm feeling," he answered abashed. "I just don't like the idea of sharing you." He snorted at his own conceit. "Yeah, look at me. But still..."

"It's okay, Rob. I think I get it," she said, soothing his upset. "Men tend to want to be the only stallion in the pasture."

"Yeah," he said. "Something like that."

"The Japanese didn't have legends about vampires," she said, continuing with her story, "So we didn't have to work very hard to stay hidden. The hardest thing we had to overcome was getting them to accept a pair of gaijin in their midst. It took us a year to learn the language well enough to speak it, and another year to become fluent enough to fit in. We stayed for nearly a hundred years.

"We became a local legend over there. There's still a village high in the mountains that I dare not visit. They built statues of us, for crying out loud." She sighed and got a distant look on her face. "Although, it might be nice to look on her face one more time. They were amazingly true to life. They even got our fangs right.

"We came back to America when we heard rumors of a war. Svetlana lost her sword at sea, but I've kept mine all these years." She offered it to him on her palms. "I never learned to use it. Here, it's yours now."

"I can't take that, Elaina," Rob whispered, looking at the scabbard with reverence in his eyes. "It's a connection to her. And it's got to be worth a fortune."

"No," she said, "It never held memories of her. The memories it does hold are best left behind. Take it, own it, make it yours." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Stake your claim and make me yours."

He reached over and took it from her hands, leaning in to kiss her, staking his claim as she'd asked.

"You are mine, Elaina, now and forever," he whispered back. The moon soared brightly over the mountains for her smile.

He gripped the hilt in one hand and the scabbard in the other and then drew the sword. Even to his untrained eye, he could see the craftsmanship that had gone into forging the blade. He ran his fingertips down the spine, admiring the sweep of the blade as it curved gently to the beveled point at the toe. He saw the wavy characteristic of the tempering of the honed edge, the unadorned steel gleaming in the light. He swung the blade up, feeling the balance, feeling as if it was an extension of his hand. He looked at Elaina wonderingly.

"The blade was forged by a master of the Sukesada family in the early sixteen hundreds," she told him. "I didn't know his name, but I was told their swords became legendary, sought after by emperors and kings the world over, although at the time, their legend was still local to Japan. There's a kit for cleaning and honing it that I was given. I'll get it out later and show you what I was taught."

"How do I wear this?" he asked, looking over the scabbard. He took the sword he was still holding and carefully lined it up and slid it back, feeling the snick as the sword settled in its sheathe.

"There was a corded sash," she replied. "But it rotted away centuries ago. I'll get you another, or maybe we should pick one out together. It is a pretty personal choice, after all."

"I love it, sweetheart," he said, kissing her again. "If I hadn't already decided to learn swordwork, this alone would have convinced me." He looked at the sword in his hand. "I can't take this to work. I'll have to come home first."

"Let me pick you up and I'll take you to class," she offered.

"Perfect," he said, then he handed her the sword. "You can bring it with you when you come get me. In fact, if you don't mind, could you bring my bag too?" She nodded. "Thank you, honey."

Noting the time, he gulped down his coffee then grabbed his usual gear. "Love you," he said at the door, getting one last kiss, then he was gone, hustling down the hall and out to the street.

He stepped out of the building to see Elaina talking with a traffic cop. They were walking around the car, the officer pointing out features of the car with Elaina commenting that she had known that. When they got to the rear window, he asked her about the louvers.