Sheridan finally convinced Keefer to go with her to her father's house and now the blonde was forced to wait patiently as her lover changed her outfit for the third time. Sheridan chuckled at how nervous Keefer was and she actually found it cute, so when Keefer emerged from her bedroom in her next set of clothing, the construction worker found it hard not to tease.

"Well? What do you think?" Keefer asked, twirling around.

"Hmm, I dunno. Don't ya think it's a little butch?"

Keefer panicked. "Butch?" she looked down at her clothing -- beige chinos and a white shirt.

"Come on, Keef, I'm just playing. You look fine. You looked fine in all the other things you had on, too. It's just my pop, calm down, will ya?"

Keefer smacked Sheridan in the shoulder, "Don't fool around, I'm too nervous."

"There's nothing to be nervous about. Honestly, my pop is cool."

"Danni's father hated me."

"Screw him. Don't worry, you'll see, everything will be okay."

"You promise?" Keefer asked worriedly.

"Yep," the blonde smiled. "Now, let's go. I need to go home and change my clothes, too."

Keefer bent down and kissed Fifi. The dog then trotted over to Sheridan, sat down and looked up expectantly at her.

"Later, Feefs," Sheridan bent down and let Fifi lick her face.

"I've never seen her attach herself to someone so fast. She usually doesn't trust people," Keefer said with a big grin.

"Well, I'm not just people," the blonde replied.

No, you're not, are you, Keefer thought as they left the house.

*********************

When Sheridan opened the door to her apartment, she was instantly jumped. The dogs were overjoyed to see her and pounced on her like she'd been gone for days. Keefer was left snickering in the hallway as the dogs threw themselves at Sheridan, slamming the door behind her in Keefer's face. The tall woman could only imagine what the dogs were doing to Sheridan as the blonde grunted and spit intermittently. Once Keefer was able to push the weight of Sheridan and the dogs along with the door, she snuck inside the apartment. The dogs began to dart back and forth between their mommy and Keefer, tripping over their own feet and each other.

Keefer laughed as Pharaoh did an imitation of a kangaroo -- jumping up and trying to lick her face -- and Zeus shook his tail so hard that his whole backside flew back and forth. "Hey, guys... you just saw me this morning!" Keefer giggled as she spoke.

Sheridan crawled away from the fray and lay on the floor in hysterics, watching Keefer as she tried to accommodate to both dogs. "This is normal, Keef."

"Hey! Hey!" Keefer shrieked as Zeus tripped her and she fell to her knees.

A loud whistle stopped the dogs in their tracks and they both turned to look at Sheridan. "That's enough!" she said forcefully. "Now go lay down," she pointed to the living room and the panting, excited dogs slunk away.

"You didn't have to yell at them on my account." the brunette said as she got back to her feet.

"Oh, yes I did. We'd never get out of here if I didn't."

Keefer frowned and looked towards the living room.

"God, Keef, I didn't beat them or anything," Sheridan smiled. "Fine. The treats are in the cabinet in the kitchen," the construction worker chuckled.

"I know, next to the food," Keefer said as she went right for the treats.

"Oh?" Sheridan was suddenly besides the brunette. "Do any snooping around here this morning?" she teased.

Keefer blushed and looked everywhere but at Sheridan.

"Uh huh. Found something blush-worthy, did you?" the blonde wrapped her arms around Keefer from behind.

"Maybe," the inspector mumbled.

Sheridan kissed Keefer between the shoulders, "Found my bag o'tricks?"

Keefer turned around in Sheridan's arms with the doggie treats in her hands. She was bright red and grinning sheepishly. "I think so."

"See anything you like?" the blonde asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Keefer asked, trying to get out of Sheridan's grasp.

"Nope," the blonde released her lover. "I'll just have to try each thing out, one by one, and see what you like best."

"Oh god! Sheridan!" Keefer hurried out of the kitchen and into the living room.

Sheridan folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the stove. "Oh, you definitely saw something," she snickered.

Keefer handed the now obedient dogs their treats and sat on the couch between them. "You're not going to drop it are you?" she hid her hot face in her hands.

"Nope."

"Well, if you must know... there was one thing."

"Yeah... and..."

Keefer shook her head and sighed. "The thigh thing," she said into her hands.

"Oh yeah?" The construction worker slipped into her bedroom while Keefer hid her face and came into the living room holding said item. "This?" she asked, dangling it off her finger.

Keefer peeked from between her fingers and nodded.

"Cool. I kinda like this one, myself."

"Please put it away. I can't believe we're having this conversation now. It's all I'm going to think about while I sit with your father."

"We were gonna have this conversation sooner or later. Now's as good a time as any," Sheridan chuckled at Keefer's bright red face. "Come on, Keef, you don't ever have to be embarrassed about this stuff with me, you know that." Sheridan squatted down in front of the mortified brunette.

"I know, but I can't help it. Maybe if you don't talk about it and just do it instead..."

"That seems easy enough, but I want to make sure I don't do anything you won't be comfortable with. It would really make me feel bad if I tried something and it bothered you. I'd rather know about it ahead of time."

Keefer looked into Sheridan's eyes and smiled bashfully, "You're right, we should talk about it ahead of time. I'm just such a baby when it comes to these things."

"Don't talk like that, you're not a baby. Keef, we both have to learn things about each other. I just don't want to play guessing games."

Keefer nodded and leaned over to kiss the blonde. "Thank you for dealing with me."

Sheridan snorted. "You? Dealing with you? Are you kidding? I am no walk in the park!" she pointed to her chest.

"Well, I love you anyway," Keefer grinned. "Go get dressed, and take that thing with you," she indicated the thigh harness.

Sheridan kissed her lover thoroughly before leaving the room. Keefer fell back into the couch with a dreamy sigh. "Guys, your mommy is one hell of a kisser." The tall brunette scratched Zeus behind the ear and the big dog sighed. "You two must be one hell of a handful, it's a good thing you found Sheridan." Keefer was still replaying the harness conversation and was startled when the blonde began talking.

"You can turn on the TV if you want, but I shouldn't be long."

Blue eyes drank in the sight of the construction worker walking away in her underwear. Keefer nodded absently as her eyes raked over every exposed inch of her lover. Oh, boy... that's a keeper of a vision.

*********************

Sheridan was ready before Keefer had the chance to shake loose the sexy image, and was soon standing in front of her with a raised eyebrow.

"What were you thinking about?" the blonde asked with a knowing grin, indicating that Keefer's expression gave had already given her away.

"Oh, uh... nothing really," she stood quickly, causing the dogs to jump to attention. If Keefer had thought she'd have trouble keeping her mind in the right place before, she was in even more trouble now. Sheridan looked delicious to her and her eyes kept wandering up and down the construction worker's body.

"It's just jeans, Keef," she teased.

"Easy for you to say. I think those were made for you," she couldn't control herself and ran her hand across Sheridan's stomach, "and must you wear such tight shirts?"

"I love the way you look at me when I wear them."

Keefer blushed and looked away, "You're totally irresistible."

Sheridan gave her lover a sexy smile, "I think you proved that this morning."

Keefer's lips twitched with the memory. "Mmm, hmm," she grinned, her eyes narrowing as she recalled certain moments.

Sheridan swallowed hard at the look on Keefer's face. "Let's go before I tear off your clothes right this second."

*********************

The drive over was nerve wracking for Keefer, but it seemed that Sheridan didn't notice. The blonde was singing out loud with the radio, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. Keefer found herself smiling at her lover during particularly dramatic choruses, despite her nervousness. The inspector continued to stare at Sheridan as they rode, amazed that this self-assured, cocky woman was the same one that lay submissively in her arms earlier that day and allowed her to stake claim to her body in the most intimate of ways. Keefer smiled at the trust Sheridan obviously felt for her.

"Here we are."

Keefer nearly gasped out loud, "This is your father's house? You grew up in here?"

"Huge, ain't it?" Sheridan said as she pulled up to into the driveway.

"It's gorgeous," Keefer said, taking it all in. Sheridan beamed, "It's just one benefit of being a construction worker. I helped build that deck when I was twelve."

Keefer smiled at Sheridan's prideful expression, "You did a good job."

"Come on, Steven's probably having a cow."

Keefer had to practically crawl out of the small car and stood by the steps waiting for Sheridan, nervously shifting from foot to foot.

"I swear, Keef, no one's going to bite you." Sheridan raised her eyebrow when she realized what she just said and opened her mouth again.

Keefer clamped her hand over her lover's lips. "Please, don't say anything. I have enough of you on my mind already."

Before they could ring the bell, Steven flung open the door and shouted, "SHER... oh shit! What happened to your face? Damn, that..." He stopped dead once he noticed Keefer and a slow grin appeared on his face, "Cool. Keefer's here, too."

"Good observation," the blonde teased. "Move, Stevie-boy," she banged into him with her shoulder and he bolted into the house.

"Pop! Sheridan's here and she brought KEEFER!"

Sheridan stole a glance at her lover as they walked into the house and chuckled at the redness covering her cheeks. "Ain't that something, he's got a woody for ya."

"I'm going to die," Keefer mumbled as they made their way into the living room.

"Oh, come on, you won't die," Sheridan took the brunette's hand and held it close to her chest.

"Hi honey, oooo," Mr. Landers winced and ran his finger over his daughter's eye. "That's gotta hurt."

"Like a bitch. Pop, this is Keefer, Keefer, meet my pop, the coolest father on the planet."

"Well, will you look at you," the older man smiled warmly at Keefer then turned to Sheridan with a chuckle. "You definitely take after the old man, kiddo."

Steven suddenly appeared wearing a baseball cap and carrying a basketball. "Can we play Sher? I wanna show Keefer my shot!"

"Not now Steven, I'm not feeling that great."

"Well, if you didn't runaround getting your ass kicked..."

"Steven, I'm sure your sister's hungry," Mr. Landers broke in.

Steven pouted.

"Maybe after I eat, okay?" Sheridan said as she stole her brother's hat and put it on her head, making Steven laugh as the hat covered Sheridan's eyes and ears. "I'm starved, where's the food?" the blonde said rubbing her belly.

"Keefer, you wanna sit next to me? I don't spit or nothing, I swear," Steven asked shyly.

Keefer looked to Sheridan who merely shrugged. "Sure, I'd love to," she answered.

"Alright!" the younger man pumped his fist in the air and took off into the dining room.

Mr. Landers chuckled. "I think your brother has a crush on your woman," he teased.

"Can you blame him? I mean, look at her!" Sheridan leered at her lover.

Keefer blushed hotly. It was very embarrassing to her that Sheridan's father knew they slept together.

Sheridan noticed Keefer's discomfort and rested her hand in the small of the taller woman's back. "I'm sorry, Keef. Pop, she's really shy."

"Well you better open up, honey, I want to know all about the woman who turned my daughter inside out."

"Um. I'm starving in here!" Steven yelled from the dining room.

"That's our cue. Go sit down and I'll get it all ready."

"Thanks, Pop, you're the greatest."

"After you, pretty lady," Mr. Landers gestured at Keefer.

"Thank you, sir," Keefer said quietly.

"Whoa! I'm no sir, call me Pop."

Keefer cleared her throat and nodded, allowing Sheridan to lead her through the house.

The second Keefer sat down, Steven began smiling. "You want a roll?" he asked her.

"No thanks," she politely declined, smiling sweetly at him.

"Okay, but if you do, if you want anything even, just ask and I'll get it for you," he said, puffing out his chest.

"Stop drooling, Stevie-boy."

"Quit it, Sheridan," he frowned. "I am not drooling. I'm just being a gentleman. Isn't that what you do when you have a gorgeous woman sitting next to you?"

Sheridan smiled, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Soup's on!" Mr. Landers appeared with a steaming pot and set it in the middle of the table. "I'll be right back with the Ziti for those of us who didn't drink too much last night," he said, narrowing his eyes at his daughter.

"You got drunk last night, Sher? Did you throw up?"

"Yeah, I threw up."

Mr. Landers came back into the room with a pan of ziti that made Keefer's mouth water.

"Hey, enough of that talk, we're eating here." Sheridan leaned over Keefer and whispered to her brother, "Puked all over the chick that hit me."

Sheridan and Steven shared a snicker while their father looked on with distaste. "So, Keefer, what do you do?"

"I work in records, at OSHA, but I still go out on inspections," she glanced at Sheridan.

"Yeah, that's how we met," the blonde added.

"Who kicked your ass, Sher?" Steven asked around a mouthful of ziti.

Sheridan wanted to run a list of adjectives describing Danni to her brother, but she didn't ant to upset Keefer. "This chick named Danni."

Steven stopped chewing and furrowed his brows in thought, "Danni... hey, isn't that the same girl from the car wash?"

"Uh, yeah. Hey, I'd like a roll, Steven," Sheridan said, quickly changing the subject.

Mr. Landers saw his daughter squirming and Keefer looking strangely at her, so he jumped in to help. "The guys were worried about you this morning, Sher. You didn't show and you didn't call. They said you all had some disagreement last night, too."

"Yeah, I was stupid. I acted like an all-around ass last night," Sheridan grimaced.

"Does Danni still think you're um, doing it with her girlfriend?" Steven asked, still stuck on the subject. "Is that what she beat you up for? I didn't think she looked so tough."

"Steven, that's enough," the older man warned.

Keefer's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs as she grinned in amusement at her highly uncomfortable lover. "So, this Danni person... she's threatened you before?" she asked innocently.

"Oh yeah, she tried to act all rough, but Sheridan flexed a few times and she ran away."

"So, tell me, Steven," Keefer tried not to laugh at Sheridan's outraged expression at her brother. "What did Sheridan say about Danni's girlfriend?"

Mr. Landers watched his daughter wince and was suddenly very interested in this story.

"Well, first Sher pointed out that it was Danni's ex-girlfriend, and she never told Danni that she wasn't doing it, but she told me later that she couldn't do it with her cuz there's a difference between making love and doing it. But Danni didn't know that," Steven laughed. "She got so mad, but Sheridan scared her away."

Though Keefer tried to make sense of the story, all she heard was Sheridan couldn't do it. When was this? she wondered.

Mr. Landers put two and two together and realized that Keefer must be Danni's ex. "Okay Steven, that's all, let's finish eating," he grinned at his daughter who seemed to have slid several inches under the table.

Keefer smiled at her lover, then at Steven. "I'll take that roll now, Steven."

"You can call me, Stevie," he said with a proud grin.

Sheridan's eyes widened and then she rolled them. "Oh, brother," she mumbled.

*****************

When dinner was over, Sheridan took Keefer on a tour of the house. They started in the dining room since that's where they already were. The blonde construction worker proudly pointed to the floor, "Pop let me and Steven help with the floor. It was the first thing we did in the house. God, Pop," Sheridan yelled into the kitchen, "What was I, six when we did the floor in here?"

"Just about. There was no way you guys were going to let me do it alone," he snickered with the memory of his daughter in a plastic tool belt and feetie pajamas.

Keefer stared at the hardwood floor and wondered what six-year-old could have done to help. "So what did he have you do?"

"We really didn't do much else but help sand some edges..."

Steven jumped into the conversation, "Nuh uh... we kicked the boards into place!"

"Yeah, but we really felt like we did something back then," Sheridan said with a grin.

"I'll bet," Keefer grinned back. What a great family this sounds like. Her gaze drifted to the wallpaper and wainscoting, "I bet you wanted to do the walls too," she nudged Sheridan with her shoulder.

"You got that right, so Pop gave us a whole other project to do to get out of his way," Sheridan led her lover into the next room, the den.

"Can I show Keefer my room?" Steven asked anxiously.

"Is it clean?" Sheridan asked then leaned close and whispered, "You don't have underwear hanging from the chairs do you?"

Steven bolted from the den and ran up the stairs.

Keefer took in the room and its furnishings. All of the furniture was raw wood and it looked hand made. A big rocking chair sat in front of a working brick fireplace and the mantle was gorgeous. A bamboo-type roll screen covered the large picture window and a light sisal rug covered the floor, but one wall caught her eye. From the baseboard to about four feet high was multi colored handprints, two different sizes. She couldn't help herself from smiling. "I suppose that was the project," she said, pointing to the handprints.

Sheridan chuckled, walked over to the wall and knelt down. "Yeah, it was non toxic paints and we realized a few weeks later that they were water soluble," the blonde pointed out a smeared green handprint, "so Pop covered it over with a sealer. These hands are here forever. To paint over them, you'd have to strip off the top coat and I don't think he has the heart to strip away the prints." Sheridan shook her head and sighed. "Its weird," she placed her hand over a much smaller handprint, "this was my hand."

"I know -- it's the cutest one there." Keefer knelt down next to her lover.

Sheridan chuckled, "Come on, let's go to my room," she said with a wiggle of her eyebrow.

Keefer laughed and let Sheridan take her by the hand. After getting to the next landing, Keefer noticed that there was another flight of stairs and was curious to know where they led to. She craned her neck as she walked trying to catch a glimpse of the next landing.

"Guest rooms and another bathroom upstairs. There's four full johns in the house, and one in the garage."

"Four bathrooms?" Keefer asked loudly in amazement.

Sheridan shrugged. "No, five, four full ones," she corrected. At Keefer's unblinking stare, she further explained, "Yeah, one john per bedroom, one upstairs and a half one downstairs."

"Are you serious? Wow," the brunette blinked a few times to comprehend.

"Yeah, I know, it sounds extravagant, especially for Brooklyn, but when your pop builds the house, you can have what you want." Sheridan stopped in front of a room and pushed Keefer in ahead of her.

Keefer gaped at Sheridan's bedroom. It was the size of the inspector's living room and kitchen combined, plus it had a bathroom off to the side. "Funny, I never would have thought... I mean, after seeing your apartment... just, wow." The walls were painted a very dark blue, the ceiling and molding a lighter shade of the same color. There were a few posters on the walls -- most were of rock bands and one of a heavily muscled woman. The carpeting was gray as were the shutters and bedding.ƯIt was a captain's bed and Keefer assumed it was king-sized, noticing that it had a row of drawers lining the base. There was a huge workout system in one cornerƯand a television on a stand that contained shelves full of videos and video games. A chest of drawers, a nine-drawer dresser and an enormous armoire rounded out the room. "Jesus, Sher... it's like you could fit my whole house into here!"

"My bedroom used to be on the ground floor, but we knocked down that room and added the pool. Pop made most of the renovations after Mom died. This used to be two rooms and the next floor didn't even exist. I think doing all that work kept him going... us kids, too. We helped with a lot of the work."

Keefer smiled sadly. It must have been so hard for them at that time. She wondered if Sheridan would have had the passion for building if her mom hadn't died.

"Steven's room has a kick-ass walk in closet. My bathroom used to be a closet, one of those huge ones that you could rent out as a room, but I'd rather have the bathroom, so we built it. Steven had the option of both, so he took both. Greedy little bastard," she joked.

"I heard that!" Steven hollered. "You can bring her into my room now, no underwear!"

Keefer was so overwhelmed already that she was almost afraid to see Steven's room, but she trooped on and couldn't help but smile at his decor. It was mostly Sci-fi oriented with the occasional semi-dressed female. It was painted in greens and even had a green rug. Keefer had an inkling as to what Steven's favorite color was. "Lemme guess, green is your favorite color," she joked.

"How cool! Sher, she guessed my favorite color!"

Sheridan threw a Star Wars figurine at him. "You're such a putz."

Keefer elbowed her lover who scowled and rubbed the spot dramatically. Keefer rolled her eyes and turned back to Steven, "So, are you going to show me the cool closet I heard all about?"

"Yeah, look!" he said, throwing open the double doors. "You can sit down in here and think about what to wear and everything," he said, sitting down on the small bench and pretending to think.

"I see," Keefer chuckled. "I love it. Maybe I can have your sister build me one of these," she said seriously enough to get a raised eyebrow from her lover.

"Ooo, I can help! Sher, lemme help you! I can do it, I wanna help build a closet for Keefer!"

Sheridan narrowed her eyes at Keefer and glared through the lowered lids, "Maybe. We'll see."

"I think it's great idea, Sher. I bet Steven is a big help... think about it."

"You're serious? You want me to build you a closet?"

"Now that I think about it, yeah," she said with a blush, just now realizing that she pretty much ordered Sheridan to work.

Sheridan glanced at her doe-eyed brother, lower lip aquiver in full beg mode, then directed a withering look at Keefer, "Good thing I love you."

Steven spoke around his pout, "Is that a yes?"

Sheridan sighed and braced herself for the attack. "Yeah... it's a yes."

Both Keefer and Steven whooped and jumped on Sheridan, forcing her to fall backwards onto the bed. The construction worker accepted the kisses from her lover and the good-natured, happy jostling from her brother, wondering what she just gotten herself into.

part 32

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