Susanne Novan - Driven

"I’ve done a few in my time," Cat allowed.

"Alright, but make sure you don’t flex her foot and stretch the Achilles."

"Damn, well, that’ll make it a little harder, but…." She looked up at Dylan and received a short nod in return. "Okay. Tell me if I’m hurting you."

"Believe me, it won’t hurt any worse than it does now," Dylan grunted, both hands grabbing fistfuls of blanket and squeezing tight. "Just do it."

Stiffening her fingers, Cat dug into the cramp, grunting with the effort. She hadn’t been lying when she said that she had some experience with calf

cramps, but she’d never had to try and soften one in a leg as muscled as Dylan’s. It was like trying to dig into solid rock. "I’m sorry," she murmured when Dylan flinched.

"’sokay. Just keep at it," the coach replied through gritted teeth.

The next several minutes were spent in tense silence as Cat’s strong fingers worked deep into the muscle, probing and massaging until the cramp finally,

mercifully, began to loosen. She gentled her touches then, squeezing and releasing Dylan’s leg to make sure huge knot didn’t return. Feeling the tension

slowly subside, she looked up to find Dylan slumped bonelessly against the headboard, eyes closed.

"God, that feels good."

Cat grinned happily. "Yeah? I’m glad."

The young woman’s fingers continued to move of their own accord, gliding over warm, silken skin in a languid caress. A movement off to her left caused

her to shift her gaze from Dylan’s peaceful face to Norton, who bore a decided smirk.

It was then that Cat realized what she was doing and, flushing from her neck to her hairline, she drew her hand back as if her fingers were on fire.

Norton laughed softly, shaking her head. "Lay down up there with Dylan, Cat. Let me finish up with the Goddess here, and I’ll check your sutures in a couple minutes."

"Are you sure?" Cat asked, a bit uncomfortable. "I mean, I could just…."

"C’mon up here," Dylan said, eyes still closed. "I won’t bite."

"That’s not what I heard," Norton snorted, using her uncasted hand to massage the big muscles in Dylan’s thigh.

One blue eye opened and gave her a stare before closing again.

Once again realizing how truly exhausted she was, Cat crawled up the bed, then turned, and flopped down on her back, one arm flung over her eyes.

A second later, she was fast asleep.

"Poor kid," Norton said softly as she finished the massage. "Kinda rough start for her, huh?"

Opening her eyes, Dylan rolled her head and looked down at Cat’s peaceful face. She fought the urge to gently stroke the pale cheek, just to see if it was as soft as it felt. "Yeah."

"She’s pretty resilient, though, I’ll give her that."

Norton looked over at Dylan and knew her words were wasted. The tall superstar seemed totally absorbed in the smaller figure laying next to her. There

was a smile on her face that Norton, who had known Dylan for over ten years, had never seen on her face before. Sweet, tender, laced with warm affection

and, possibly, something else.

"Dylan?"

"Yeah?"

As the doctor looked on, Cat shifted, then rolled onto her side, one hand reaching out and curling around Dylan’s wrist.

Norton smiled.

"Nothing."

Grabbing the brace, she reapplied it to the coach, seating the Velcro firmly, but not too tightly. Then she rounded the bed and brushed Cat’s bangs away, checking on the neat line of sutures right at her hairline. Aside from a little residual swelling, everything seemed to be fine. And she could tell just by listening that the steroids and antibiotics Cat had been given had done their job.

"Listen, it’s probably best if she stays here with you tonight. No sense in waking her up and bringing her back to the other room, right? I mean…as long as you’re comfortable with it."

"I’ll be fine," Dylan replied, distracted by the warm, soft hand encircling her wrist.

Norton smirked. "I’m sure you will be, my friend. I’m sure you will be."

Bidding them both a silent goodnight, she left the room and closed the door quietly behind her.

*******

Cat looked at the bags on the counter. She sighed and wondered if she could really pulled this off and why in the name of God she hadn’t just agreed to go

out to Dylan’s favorite restaurant.

She knew exactly why, and it didn’t take her mind long to come up with the answer as she reached in a brown sack and retrieved the ingredients. She

wanted to be alone with Dylan. Plain and simple. She didn’t want to share her with the outside world on the night that was their first ‘official’ date.

She had offered to make Dylan a ‘wonderful’ vegetarian meal. Now all she had to do was figure out exactly how to do that. She had slightly misrepresented her cooking skills. She would never starve to death, but she had always felt it was best not to subject her friends to her culinary offerings.

After taking all the things she had purchased at the farmer’s market and the local health food store out of their bags, she retrieved the recipes that she had downloaded from the internet.

Her mother had always told her you couldn’t go wrong if you always followed the recipe. She really hoped that her mother was right this time.

She placed the fresh vegetables in the dish drainer, knowing they would need to be washed and chopped up as she prepared each dish.

Her menu was complete. She would offer Dylan nice raw vegetables with homemade ranch dressing and vegetarian pate for hor d'oeuvres. Dinner would

start with a nice miso soup, and then she would serve spinach soufflé and roasted chilies with garlic sauce.

As far as she could tell from all the research she had done this would be a nice meal with the tastes and textures complimenting each other. She had

called her mother and asked her for ideas. Her mother wasn’t much help, reminding Cat that she came from a meat and potatoes family and maybe she

should try to bring Dylan over to the dark side. That was when she suggested the recipes.

Cat read the recipes as she sorted the ingredients and set everything into their respective piles. "I can do this," she muttered to herself. "I can fix a perfectly nice dinner for her. It’s only vegetables for Christ’s sake."

She heard him and looked over to see Hamlet sitting in the kitchen doorway. His head cocked to one side and one eyebrow apparently raised.

"Not a word out of you, Flea Bag."

The dog all but smirked before plopping down on the floor, head resting on paws to watch his mistress. Smiling, Cat took a treat from the container on the counter and tossed it at the dog. His head whipped up and he snatched the tasty treat from the air with a snap.

"You’re so easy," Cat chuckled and then started removing pots and pans from under the cabinets. "I wonder if Dylan can be trained through her stomach."

Cat continued working around the kitchen. Her mind wandered to many topics in order to keep her from thinking about Dylan. They had lost the big game in

California. It wasn’t any wonder really, given that she and Dylan had spent the night on a freezing mountain, not quite sure if they were going to live.

Not only were they in no condition to perform their respective roles as player and coach, but the rest of the team had gotten very little sleep when they found out the private plane had gone down. To make matters worse, early reports stated that there had been no survivors and they were waiting for the

bodies to be brought down.

Fortunately, Cat, Dylan, and the team doctor had made it out with what could be considered minor injuries, considering the situation. Unfortunately, Cat

thought acidly, Horace had survived not only the crash, but a heart attack as well. She shook her head as began slicing vegetables, her mother would not