A smile creased her face as she pressed her foot down, feeling the vehicle respond to her request with a restrained eagerness. A quick lane swap and she pulled around a pair of SUVs who seemed to be doing their best to become a rolling 70 mph roadblock, a mere obstacle to be avoided as she squirted past, smoothly accelerating to 90 mph with a blue BMW right on her heels. She pulled aside to let the speedster behind her pass, maintaining her pace until he was almost 1/3 mile in front of her. At that point she accelerated and kept pace with him, both vehicles maintaining a steady speed of 114 mph.

Things went on that way for over 50 miles until a little tickle in the back of her mind said it was time to slow down and she eased back to 80, a mere 10 mph over the speed limit. Her caution was justified as ahead blue lights blossomed and she saw not one but 3 highway patrol cruisers pull out behind the BMW and give chase. Rather than slowing the driver chose to run and she saw him draw away for a few moments as the less capable police vehicles strained to keep up. She increased speed to keep up with what had become a chase and realized the police vehicles were severely outmatched.

She reached down and flicked a control on the console, causing her car’s audio system to patch in with the police radios. “Ease off boys, you’re not gonna catch that yahoo in those buggies. Make a hole and I’ll pace him until you can get a chopper on scene.”

“Who are you and what are you doing on this frequency!?!” a male voice half shouted.

“I’m the silver merc right behind you Bobby. Now get that fucking thing outta my way!”

The voice that came back was softer, almost stunned. “Billy?”

“Catherine and we’ll talk about it later.” There was no reply but the vehicle in the left lane faded back just enough to duck in behind his compatriots.

Once again her foot sank toward the floor but this time it wasn’t a sedate acceleration as the car dropped a gear and the turbocharged V6 growled like an unleashed beast, her car jumping ahead and passing the cruisers as though they were standing still. The needle climbed again, passing 160 as she continued to accelerate past the 165 her car was supposed to be electronically limited to. By the time the distance between herself and her quarry began to shrink ever so slightly she’d passed 185 and was beginning to seriously push the capacity of her own car although the engine was sitting at just a little over 4 thousand RPM, a fair amount of speed left if she needed it.

It was only a minute or two at that speed before she saw a telltale puff of smoke come from the fleeing vehicle ahead and suddenly the distance between them began to shrink quickly. She eased off on her own speed just a hair, backing down to 140 and flashed past the BMW before she slowed any more. She did not want to be behind the idiot if he wiped out… and she watched in her rear mirror as he did exactly that, swerving before the car seemed to stumble and trip, cartwheeling down the highway end over end while twisting and throwing pieces in every direction.

Once it ground to a halt on its roof she pulled to the side, set her flashers and quickly changed her heels for tennis shoes, running to the overturned car as flames began to lick at its exposed underbelly. The driver was hanging from his seatbelt, deflated airbags draped around him. A quick swipe of her emergency escape tool severed the belt and she pulled him out of the vehicle, struggling to move more than twice her own weight but aided by desperation. She only managed to move him a few feet away before large hands reached around her and took hold of her burden, easily drawing the man across the width of the road and to the verge.

When she looked up she was almost shocked to meet his intense green eyes and immediately looked down, anywhere but into the eyes of the man she’d loved since they were both children. Her eyes focused on his hands, large and strong and the color of aged oak.

“Is this why you left?” The deep rumble tore away the last of her strength and she found herself crying into his shoulder as her held her.

Some hours later they sat together in a waffle house, toying with the last of their hashbrowns, both wanting desperately to bridge the gulf that had grown between them almost 20 years before when they were both teens, when she’d run away and he was left without the friend he had developed confusing feelings for.

She was the one to break the silence. “I’m sorry I had to leave, that I didn’t… couldn’t tell you why…”

“B…” he stopped and began anew. “Catherine… you don’t owe me an apology. If anything I owe you one for not realizing… for not understanding, being there for you. I know things were different then and as much as I like to think I’d have been ok… lets be real, I was an ignorant farmboy. I was lost when you left and as soon as I graduated I joined up but all this time I’ve missed you and it felt like a part of my world was missing.”

“I never understood until a few hours ago… Why you’d gone and I realized it was only partly your parents. You couldn’t stand to be around me while I was so ignorant. While I couldn’t give you what we both wanted and you watched me date the whole cheer squad in succession. I wish I could go back and change that…”

“Can’t unspill the milk Bobby. I’ve learned to put regret behind me, to take happiness when the Universe offers it because it is all too rare. I just… I couldn’t face you… I was afraid…” She looked down at her plate and the last smeared remnants of ketchup. “I was afraid you would reject me, same as I was back then. I’ve been unfair to you…”

“You had every reason to be afraid. I didn’t even understand myself at the time and I have no idea how I would have reacted. I had a lot of growing up to do and it took losing a couple of buddies to really kick me into gear.” He paused as a shadow of grief swept across his face. “I had this sergeant, Martinez. Real hard ass and then one leave rotation Rico came back as Maraina. I had the privilege of watching her grow into herself, become the woman she always had been. I stood for her at her wedding because she had no living family and it was my honor to do it but I never quite came full circle.”

“And now?” She forced her eyes up to meet his and almost pulled away as his hand reached out to engulf her own.

It felt like an eternity before he answered and her heart leapt.

“Now… I want to make up for lost time… to be the man I couldn’t be then. I’d like…” he held her hand up in his own and examined the slender line of lighter skin on her ring finger. “I’d like to make sure you never lose that little tan line.”

She was sure her face was glowing, it felt so hot. “I’ve only just been able to take it off recently… He died 2 years ago but… it feels like yesterday, you know?”

“My wife and daughter were killed in an accident almost 5 years ago now. I still wake up expecting to see them…”

“I’m sorry…” She trailed off, feeling the inadequacy of the words keenly.

“Its ok. I’ve learned to move on, to cherish the time we did have. In a way it’s the reason we met today because I’d never have become a State Trooper if not for that. I will admit I’ve never had a civilian take over a chase like that before though. What the hell have you got under the hood?”

“Just what the fine folks at Daimler put there but this model year was the last of the bigger engines. They put blown 4s in em now just like that beemer that blew his engine out. I might have done just a little tweaking but not much was required really. Quicksilver was designed to run with the big dogs on the Autobahn.”

“I never really thought about it that way…” He mused. “I have to say you in that car is probably one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.” It was his turn to look away in embarrassment, afraid he’d said too much, been too direct.

She giggled at his discomfiture. “You don’t need a car to be sexy…”

He looked back to her and their eyes caught, holding for a timeless instant. An unspoken agreement passed between them and they both reached for wallets.

“Oh no you don’t Bobby. You either… Catherine is it? Its good to see you hon, you look happier than I remember.”

Catherine looked up in astonishment, having finally recognized the voice although she hadn’t connected the matronly figure with the cheerleader from their high school days. “Mindy? I’m amazed you remember me.”

“How could I not? You watched him date his way through the whole squad and everyone could tell it tore you up but you were so… withdrawn, closed off that we were afraid to mention it. Then you just vanished one day and Bobby was so lost… I realized he was just as much in love with you as you were with him. When he came back from his last deployment and married Leigh Anne he came alive again and it was a wonderful thing to see… until they were taken from him.”

“I never realized… I thought I hid everything so well…”

“None of us quite understood it back then but it was as plain that you were every bit as much a girl as any of us even if you were trying to be a miserable boy and failing at the boy part. You had miserable down pretty well though. Half the school thought you’d killed yourself or something…” She trailed off.

“It was a close run thing. I hit the ‘Do or Die’ point and I was just too much of a coward to die so…” Catherine shrugged “I ran. Wound up on the reservation in Montana and finished school there, went on to college. I didn’t have Bobby but at least I could be myself and… well, here we are now. What about you?”

“Oh I married Terry, remember the linebacker? We have 4 kids and he runs a transport firm, hauling containers for the Port Authority. The youngest went off to college last year and I was bored stupid so I bought this place. It keeps me occupied.”

“I’m glad, you two were always good together. We’ll have to catch up sometime later, huh?”

Mindy chortled and looked between the two. “Don’t let me keep you. He’s right by the way, you do look hot as hell getting out of that thing. Now go and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”

They both flushed at her inference as they left, and she followed him out of the parking lot. A few miles later they turned down a half hidden side road which she realized was a driveway as they pulled up in front of a spacious home. There were no words between them as he ushered her up the stairs to the raised first floor with a hand in the small of her back that felt like a hot iron through the silk of her blouse.

Once inside he pushed the door closed and opened his mouth to speak but she silenced him with a passionate kiss and he responded in kind. A few hours later they both came up for air and Catherine realized he was fully supporting her weight.

“As much as I want you right now I think I’d prefer a bed…” she purred and he responded by picking her up in his arms and making his way up the main staircase to the 2nd floor and into a huge master suite with a king sized bed. He lowered her feet so she could stand and kissed her again. They began to slowly remove each other’s clothing, each taking the time to admire, even worship the other until they finally stood before each other naked.

“Oh wow…” They both breathed, almost in perfect sync. All restraint vanished then and it was some hours before either was able to say anything coherent, just a soft “I love you” to each other as they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.