Keefer hummed as she waited in line at the coffee cart on a bright, Tuesday morning. She was in a very good mood, despite being woken up by a phone call from a pleading Danni. As soon as the tall woman refused the redhead, Danni became vicious and said some things that made Keefer's stomach hurt, but the inspector refused to let it get to her. Following her previous night's plans, Keefer dressed in chinos, a white button down shirt and comfortable shoes. NO PANTYHOSE! She sighed happily to herself when the soft cotton pants moved against her legs as she descended the stairs to the subway. It had been so long since she felt comfortable sitting on the train that she had intentionally let her long legs sprawl open, taking up more room than necessary, despite the glares from standing passengers. Accepting her cup of coffee and bagel, the tall woman made her way to her building with a spring in her step.

"Woo whee, tall lady, you sure do look different like that!" the homeless man clapped both dirty hands together in approval.

"Thanks, bud, here's your paper. Have a great day," she smiled.

"I sure will after seeing that smile!" he replied in all honesty.

Keefer got some curious looks from her co-workers as she headed to her office. She wasn't sure if the women were looking at her with jealousy or contempt. She made sure to smile at all of them. She had been feeling quite confident since buying new clothes last night and she couldn't care less if these people hated her or not. It didn't matter to her; lately she didn't much care about anyone's opinion. Her whole attitude suddenly changed after breaking up with Danni and meeting Sheridan. She hadn't given it much thought, but if she did, she would have seen how much more attractive she had become with her newfound cockiness -- one of the reasons Danni was being so persistent.

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

Sheridan picked up her brother and dropped off the dogs at the groomer's. The pair went directly to the do-it-yourself car wash. It was still early and if her dogs were going to suffer a day at the groomer, then the least she could do was clean the car.

Steven was content to do the exterior, so she fed the machine quarters and cranked up the radio as she vacuumed her side of the car first. Singing out loud with the radio, she failed to notice the car pull up beside her until she saw the feet standing next to her. Backing out of the driver's seat, she stood up to face the one person she thought she'd never see again. Danni.

"What the fuck do you want?" Sheridan immediately adopted a defensive stance. Steven stood straight up and watched protectively from behind the car.

"Nice to see you, too," the redhead smirked. "Ya nail my girlfriend yet?"

"She's not your girlfriend any more, Danni. Deal with it," Sheridan crossed her arms over her chest and flexed her biceps for effect.

Danni took a good look at the construction worker's body. She'd never seen her in the daylight or in a T-shirt. Sheridan was in great shape. She re-thought her initial intentions of menacing the blonde and stepped back a foot or two.

"Is that all, Danni, because me and my brother have to get to work," Sheridan asked, feigning boredom.

"Yeah, well, I'm just warning you -- Keefer ain't worth the effort. She doesn't know how to fuck and I doubt she's had any practice since we broke up."

Sheridan felt the anger welling up inside her at Danni's chuckle. How dare she laugh at Keefer's expense? "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that, Danni-girl," Sheridan wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Danni couldn't believe it. Did she really sleep with her or is she fucking with me? "What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm just saying that maybe she does know how to fuck. It could have been her partner that sucked ass in the sack," Sheridan said with a big shit-eating grin on her face.

"You lying sack of shit," Danni fumed.

"Hey, maybe you just didn't know what to do to please her? Perhaps she's a wild woman in bed and you just never knew it. Mmm, mm, mm. She's a fine looking woman, Danni. So sorry she kicked your ass out."

Danni wanted to throw a punch so badly her fingers twitched, but she was sure she'd never even land the blow before she was bleeding from one of her orifices again.

"Well, bye-bye now. If you'll excuse me, I gotta finish making my car clean. You never know what pretty woman I may drive around in it."

Sheridan stepped towards Danni and she backed up even further. The redhead certainly didn't expect that kind of encounter. Was Keefer really fucking Sheridan? The construction worker pretty much spelled it out, but could she trust her? She might have been fucking with her head. Danni watched through narrowed eyes as the blonde went back to vacuuming her car, singing with the music. That cocky little shit, she thought angrily. She can't be fucking Keefer and Keefer can't be a wild woman... she just can't! She stomped to her car and slammed the door behind her. She just can't be fucking her, can she? Only one way to find out. Keefer...

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

The tall inspector came back from her lunch hour with a few new purchases, the most important being the caller ID units she was about to install on her office phone and at home as soon as she arrived there. Danni wasn't going to ruin her days any more. The second thing she bought was a giant pack of dress socks. If she was going to be wearing comfortable shoes, she needed comfortable socks to go along with them. It would seem no one said anything about the way she was dressed, she even made sure to have an impromptu chat with her supervisor and he didn't seem phased. She was a little pissed, at first, that she could have been dressing this comfortably all along, until she remembered that it was Danni who told her she should dress like that for work. Why did I ever listen to her? Why was I so damned wishy-washy? Keefer felt a new sense of power, even as she purchased her socks. She was in charge of her life and how she should live it. She felt stronger today than she had in a long time. When she started thinking about what happened to her life and how she lost control of it she felt bitter and all her resentment pointed towards Danni. She wasn't happy with that feeling and pushed it away, opting for a much brighter mood by thinking about a trip to The Gap for all new work clothes.

Settling down and hooking up the caller ID, Keefer sat behind her desk in her comfortable clothes and went back to work. Not soon after she picked up a pen, the phone rang. Blue eyes darted to the little screen and she grinned when she noticed the phone number. With an evil little chuckle, she picked up the receiver an inch off the cradle and let it drop back down. Feeling very good about what she had just done, the tall woman leaned back in her chair and smiled.

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

After the initial greetings were over, Sheridan led her brother back outside to the trucks. He was very excited to be helping his sister; he looked up to her and lived for her acceptance. She never let him down and always told him she was proud of him.

"You and me are gonna unload the trucks, Steven, okay? These bags of cement are pretty heavy but us Landers kids can handle it," she grinned, smacking Steven on his shoulder.

"No problem, Sher. Where are we going to put them?"

"We just gotta empty the trucks, it don't matter," the blonde shrugged.

"Wouldn't it be better if we can put them where they should be so no one has to lift them again?" he asked with concern. "They're heavy."

"You got a point there, Stevie." Sheridan stepped back and thought a minute. "Okay, but they have to go inside, you think you can carry them all that way?"

"Yes, I ate my Wheaties this morning," Steven replied confidently and with his ever-present smile.

Sheridan smiled back, "Well then, let's get moving there, brother," she hoisted a bag up over her shoulder and walked off.

"K! I'm coming, Sher!" he yelled excitedly and mimicked her actions.

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

Keefer glanced up at the clock and her eyes widened in shock. She had been daydreaming for the better part of an hour. Shaking her head in disbelief, she stood up and stretched, groaning out loud as her shoulder popped. "You were doing so good, Keef, what happened?" she asked herself, visions of the muscular blonde still clouding her brain. Somehow, Sheridan managed to slip into her head and Keefer couldn't shake her. Right now, even as she tried to dispel the images, she couldn't. The construction worker's hard little body invaded her thoughts.

Moments passed with Keefer growing increasingly aware of her body's reactions to her less than pure thoughts. She scrubbed her hands over her face in an effort to wash away the visions. This led to her hands sliding down her neck and to her chest, as she imagined them to be Sheridan's hands touching her. A small sigh of pleasure slipped through her lips as her hands reached her breasts. She lingered there and let her palms feel her nipples tightening, her heart beating faster. Will her hands feel this good? she thought as she moved them ever so slightly across her pebbled flesh. Will I ever know?

Keefer's phone rang and she jumped, pulling her hands from her body, staring at them in amazement. "What the hell am I doing?" She looked to the caller ID and saw Danni's number appear. "Persistent, aren't we, Danni?" God, if she didn't call, what would I have done? The idea that she was touching herself again stunned her; the fact that she was doing it at work mortified her. Images of why she was doing it flashed in her head again. Sheridan Landers was becoming more than a distraction and it scared her. She needed something to keep her busy. Looking around the room, Keefer spotted something. She stood up, grabbed the latest issue of OSHA's Safety Handbook and started reading out loud.

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

Sheridan dropped the bag of cement down and Bobby whistled, "Breaking quite a sweat there, Patch!"

She looked down at her soggy black T-shirt. "Yeah," she wiped a dirty arm across her forehead. "Not a bad thing at all."

"I always say there's only three good reasons to sweat: sex, work-outs and hard labor."

"Here, here," she agreed with a high five.

"Hey, Sher, can we take a break? I'm really thirsty," Steven whined.

"Yeah, go get some soda or something," she rummaged in her jeans pocket and took out money. "Here, get me a big, cold soda too," she handed Steven the crumpled up bill.

"K, Sher."

"He's a hell of a worker, Patch," Phil said as he watched Steven go.

"Well, he's strong, that's always good," the blonde sat down on a bag of cement and watched the sweat drip off her face onto the floor.

"You know, I'd never know he was... you know..."

"What, Bobby, you can say the word. Re-tard-ed. It's okay," Sheridan got annoyed.

"It's not that, it's just... they should come up with a better word, is all. Retarded seems so harsh for him."

"Well, actually, he's developmentally disabled, which means his development is retarded." she said off handedly.

"Yeah, well, both things sound so serious. He's slow, that's all," Phil added.

Sheridan laughed, "I dunno, guys... for a slow guy, he's doing your jobs pretty quick. He's saving your sorry asses an awful lot of work."

Bobby snorted, "You got that right, chica."

Just then, Steven appeared with a big brown paper bag. Sheridan winked at him. "Hey, we're cutting out early today, soon, in fact. I left the kids at the groomer's and I don't want to leave them there all day." She stood up and lifted the bottom of her shirt up to wipe her face with.

"JEEZ!"

"PATCH!"

Sheridan looked at them in puzzlement.

"Wear a bra, for Christ sake!" Steven clarified with a red face. "My own sister's tits..."

"I couldn't find it this morning," the blonde construction worker blushed furiously. "Ain't nothing you didn't already see before, guys."

"Well I never saw them," Steven said with a snicker.

"Half the women in New York have seen them already, Steven," Bobby teased.

"Fuck you," Sheridan laughed.

"Nah, you'd kill me."

"Damned right!" she chuckled.

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

Resigned to the fact that she'd never get any more work done, Keefer called it an early day. She stopped by her supervisor's office and told him she'd be leaving early. He didn't mind, in fact he told her that she'd been doing a great job lately and should think about taking a vacation. Keefer thought about it as she sat on the subway, she hadn't taken a vacation in three years. Where would I go? What would I do?

The inspector remained deep in thought about potential vacation spots and traveling when she noticed the train had stopped moving. Looking out the window, she saw they were still on the Manhattan Bridge. She stood up and stared out the window in search of something. Hmmm... isn't Sheridan's work site just off... THAT street? Scanning the area, her eyes located the construction site, they searched frantically for any signs of the muscular blonde. Keefer was far enough away to squint but not so far that she couldn't make out the blonde's form as she hoisted a heavy bag from the tailgate of a truck. God, there she is! Keefer's heart beat rapidly and she licked her dry lips as she watched Sheridan work. When the muscular blonde disappeared from view, she turned her back on the window and closed her eyes. The tall woman welcomed the now familiar feelings of arousal and she concentrated on them, pinpointing every idividual tingle in her body.

She turned back around, her eyes falling on the small, blonde figure that had reappeared on the ground below. She and a larger man were leaving through the wooden gate and heading to the black sports car. She's leaving? Blue eyes squinted as she tried to recognize the man with Sheridan. Who is that? Not recognizing the man from that day on the site, she shrugged and continued to follow them with her eyes. What are the odds that she took a half-day, too? The tall inspector jolted as the train began moving again. Losing sight of the small, black car, she went back to her seat.

The hungry feeling that enveloped her body made her swallow hard. Look at what she does to you, Keefer, she thought with a silent groan.

You want her so badly, be daring... Why don't you just call her? You know she'd be willing to sleep with you and you know you are more than willing to let her... What do you have to lose? She thought about it again as her body calmed down and she blushed. You know better than that, you know these feelings will never go away, even after you sleep with her. Then what? Sleep with her again? What if she doesn't want you again? What if you're no good? What if it takes so long for you to climax, she gets tired and leaves -- like Danni? Keefer's body cooled down quickly and she closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Better leave her alone, Keef. She can have anybody she wants... she doesn't need you.

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

Steven flung the Frisbee as far as he could and laughed as Pharaoh leapt high in the air to catch it. The Pit Bull then threw his head back and forth, as he killed the plastic toy over and over again. Zeus was running fast circles around Sheridan as she tried to get the ball from him. Finally giving up, the blonde woman made tracks towards her brother and stood next to him as he threw the slimy Frisbee once again. She chuckled as he wiped his hands on his pants.

"You alright, Stevie-boy?"

"Shut up, Sheridan," he pouted.

"Aww, I'm just foolin' with ya. Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, a lot. Thanks for letting me come with you. I like hanging out with you much more than pop."

"Why is that?" she asked with concern.

"Ha! Zeus just stold the Frisbee!" he laughed. "Pop is pop. I like coming to work with you better, I like Bobby and Phil and Tony. Where is Tony anyway?"

"He twisted his shoulder, he should be back soon. Why do you like hanging with us, we're just a bunch of dirty-mouthed pigs." That's what Pop says, anyway.

Steven grinned. "That's why," he admitted sheepishly.

"Heh, heh. I see." Sheridan raised an eyebrow. He may look like a grown man, but her brother was an adolescent. "Sorry about my tits then. The last thing I wanted was to traumatize you."

"It ain't the first tits I ever saw, you know," he said defensively.

"Oh?" The blonde whistled for her dogs. "Just where did you see them?" she asked curiously.

"In a magazine. Yours are the first real ones I seen. It figures they would be my sisters," Steven rolled his eyes.

Sheridan had to laugh. "Sorry bout that. Hey, I better be the first to know if you get lucky, buddy boy, or there will be hell to pay." She hooked on Zeus's leash and threw Pharaoh's at her brother. "Good luck."

"Oh, I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. Pharaoh! Sit!" he yelled at the spinning dog.

"You'll have to be more firm with him."

"SIT!" Steven yelled loudly and grinned big when the dog obeyed.

"There ya go. Let's get back to the house."

"I can walk him?" Steven asked excitedly.

"Sure. Why the hell not? Just hold on tight, okay?" Steven's enthusiasm made her smile.

"Cool! Let's go, Pharaoh. Let's go home."

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

Keefer closed the door behind her and was about to pull off her clothes out of habit when she realized that she was already comfortable. She laughed as Fifi came flying across the living room, throwing herself into her mommy.

Keefer squatted down to the dog's level and hugged her wiggling body. "I know, sweetheart, I'm home early today. Gimme kisses."

Fifi obeyed and gave her mommy tons of kisses, whining and barking excitedly as she did.

"Oh, boy, someone's glad to see me!" The tall woman stood up with her dog in her arms and made her way into the kitchen. She felt like a cup of coffee.

As they were heading out the door, the phone rang. Keefer cursed herself for not hooking up the caller ID first thing when she came home and waited to hear the message. It was Danni and she was irate.

Where the fuck are you? I've been trying to call you all goddamned afternoon and now they tell me you left for the day. Keefer, call me, I want to talk to you it's important... please.

Keefer closed the door behind her as Danni spoke into the answering machine. "Gotta change that number, Feefs." As she locked the door, another thought came to her and she felt the hairs stand up on her arms. "Shit, Fifi, I gotta change the locks, too! Maybe we'll go to the locksmith after the ice cream place. What do you think?" she bent down and ruffled the dog's ears, both eyebrows lifted as she heard a voice in her head answer for the dog. Why wait for a locksmith when you have a perfectly good construction worker to call?

Keefer stood up straight and looked her dog in the eye. "You may have something there, Feefs." A slow smile spread across the tall woman's face, "Hmm, yeah, just may have a good reason to call." She started walking with the dog. "Of course, we'll have to do something about that bra I've been sleeping with."

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

Sheridan and Steven sat on the floor in the living room after taking turns in the shower. The dogs lay in various stages of relaxation next to them. Steven was idly scratching Zeus's belly and Sheridan was flipping through the TV guide.

"Find anything yet?" Steven asked as his sister stopped throwing the pages.

"Not really, just a movie I like is on later tonight." Yeah, a lesbian porno, you perv.

"When's the pizza guy getting here, I'm fainting!" he whined.

"Hold your shorts, he's coming. And I doubt you're fainting," she snorted.

"These shorts are too tight, Sher, they're pinching my privates," Steven grimaced.

"They're all I had for you. The laundry will be done in a few minutes, just hold your breath," she chuckled.

"Hey, Sher? Who was that woman this morning? She looked pretty mad, I thought she was going to hit you," Steven asked with worry.

"Aw, she wasn't going to hit me. She's an asshole, don't worry about her."

"Did you sleep with her girlfriend?"

"Her ex-girlfriend and no, I didn't sleep with her..."

"You want to though, don't you," he stated instead of asked.

"Why do you say that?" she wondered how her brother could know.

"You pretended to her that you did and, just now, you looked sad when you said that you didn't."

Well I'll be. "You're too smart for your own good, kiddo."

"Well, do you? Do you want to fuck her?"

"No, I do not want to fuck her!" Sheridan growled.

"Okay, just asking. It sure seems like you do," he dropped the subject, seeing his sister scowl.

The doorbell rang and the dogs went crazy. Steven jumped up and yelled. "Yay! Its about time!"

Sheridan sat there on the floor in thought. But you do want to sleep with her, don't you. You just don't want to fuck her. Shit, Sher, just when you thought you had no morals...

"Come on, Sher! Pay the man!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

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

The tall brunette lounged indulgently in the bubble bath, stirring her coffee float with a long spoon. She turned off the phone, put the bolt on the door and was now enjoying the rest of her evening. She had to lock Fifi in the den for fear that she'd jump into the tub; she'd done it before.

Sighing and sinking lower into the tub, she closed her eyes and relaxed. The music from the living room stereo floated into the bathroom and she began humming to the melody. The scent of lavender from the bubbles calmed her senses. This is just what I needed, she thought as she sipped from her tall glass.

Long moments passed and Keefer emptied her glass. The water had gone luke-warm and she reluctantly pulled the plug from the drain. As the last of the water gurgled down, she stood up and turned on the shower to wash the suds from her body. As she ran the sponge down her body, she felt a small chill from the open bathroom door. Her nipples hardened and she was reluctant to touch them, remembering what happened in her office earlier. She leaned her chest forward under the shower spray to rinse it off and her back arched from the sensations. Her hands immediately came up to cover them, protecting them from the hard spray.

Wow!

The tall woman backed up from under the water and moved her hands. She studied her pebble-like nipples in curiosity. I've been showering all my life and that has never happened before, she mused. Her right hand came up and hovered over her breast, she didn't want to touch it for fear she'd not be able to stop, but her hand had other plans. She rubbed her palm over her nipple and felt the jolt all the way to her crotch. Looking down at her sex, she did it again, with the same warmth spreading between her legs. She squeezed her breast and groaned out loud as her pelvis jerked on its own. I'm not even touching it and it feels so good. She explored her breast with her fingers, learning that she liked it when she pinched her nipple lightly, even more when she twisted it a little. She felt herself growing wet between her legs and her other hand reached down to explore that area as well. As her fingers touched her wetness, she moaned out loud again, surprising herself.

"Well, well, well... what do we have here?"

Keefer grabbed the shower curtain and attempted to wrap it around her body as she caught her breath. "What the hell are you doing here?" she shouted in shock.

Danni chuckled. "You know, I've been trying to get you to do just that for a year. Tell me, what made you decide to do it now? Or have you been having your way with yourself all this time without sharing."

"Get out of here! You do not live here any more!" Keefer hollered, her heart beating wildly.

"I came to see if you were okay. You haven't answered any of my calls; I was worried about you," Danni said, still not budging from the bathroom.

"Bullshit! You weren't worried about me, you were worried about you and how it would look if you showed up to the next party without me there."

"That's not true!"

"Danni, if you don't get out of here right this minute, I'll call the cops."

"I spoke to your little construction worker this morning. She seems rather fond of you," Danni held out a towel.

Oh yeah? She does? Wait a minute... "You spoke to Sheridan? Where? When? What did you say to her?" Keefer accepted the towel and quickly wrapped it around herself.

"Bumped into her, if you will. So, has she found out what a dead fuck you are yet?"

Keefer felt sick.

"I know you she wants to fuck you, Keef. Too bad she'll have to find out the hard way that you're not worth the energy."

The tall woman sat down on the toilet with tears in her eyes.

"Were you thinking of her just now, Keef? Is the feeling mutual? Does she make you want to touch yourself?"

Tears fell from blue eyes and landed on Keefer's thighs.

"Poor baby. No one will want to fuck you after she tells them all what a dry hump you are."

She's right; I'm so fucking pathetic.

"Only I know how to make you feel good," Danni knelt in front of the sobbing woman. "Come on, baby, let me make you feel good. Just like when we were together. I can make you stop crying. You know I can."

Keefer felt like throwing up, not like making love -- especially with Danni. She looked into Danni's eyes and saw a spark of triumph mixed with jealousy. It infuriated her.

"Come on, honey, lets go to the bedroom," she ran a hand up Keefer's thigh.

Keefer's body stiffened in anger. Why you little shit! Her hand reached out and slapped Danni across the face so suddenly and so powerfully that the redhead wound up sprawled out on the bathroom floor.

Keefer stood up and clutched the falling towel to her body. "Don't you EVER touch me again! You sneaky... COCKY son of a bitch! Get out now, Danni, before I really hurt you!"

Danni lay on the floor holding her cheek in shock. Fifi began barking wildly from the den at the sound of her mommy's anger.

"NOW! Get out NOW!

She had never seen Keefer so enraged, almost six feet of trembling anger looming above her. She was scared. Scared to stand up and face her, scared to have to walk past her.

Keefer couldn't wait for Danni to stand up and she reached for her arm, mindless of the towel falling on the floor and jerked Danni upright. She pushed the stunned woman out of the bathroom door and watched as she stumbled into the living room.

"Okay, okay... I'm going!" Danni stuttered as she backed into the couch.

Not realizing Danni's shock, Keefer couldn't understand why she didn't leave yet and grabbed her by the neck. "Don't you ever come back here again, Danni. I swear I'll break every bone in your body," she said coolly.

Danni wrenched away from the vice-like grip and ran for the door.

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

Sheridan flopped down on the couch with a bag of pretzels to watch her movie. She questioned the intelligence of watching porn when she was already horny as she was. Coming to a grinning conclusion that who ever she was to pick up tonight would be a lucky camper for it, she sat down and got comfortable.

While she waited for the movie to start, she ran into the kitchen for a soda. Seeing Steven's hard hat on the counter made her laugh. He was so happy to be back in his own clothes he forgot about his hat. She felt bad driving him home so soon, but she was going out tonight and there was no way she was going to leave him here alone for the night. There were too many things for him to find and she really didn't want to explain why she had many variations of the male anatomy hiding in her room. It was bad enough he knew she slept with women; he didn't have to know details.

Settling back on the couch, she contemplated what to wear to the club later. I could wear my brown leathers... no, the zipper sticks. Maybe the black jeans... no, too tight. I need easy access tonight. My loose fit 501's. That's it, and a white tank top. I'll wear my black work boots; I don't have to untie them to kick them off. Damn, I need to get laid tonight!

The movie started and she smiled when her favorite female porn stars appeared on the screen. Most people follow movie stars, I'm so pathetic that I follow porn stars, she snickered to herself.

Not halfway into the movie, Sheridan had her hand in her pants, evenly stoking the fire that had started days ago with the tall inspector. She wasn't trying to get off, but damn if she wasn't turned on. She watched her favorite women doing all sorts of things that she would hopefully be doing in an hour or so. She closed her eyes for a second to enjoy the feelings she was invoking and before she knew it, her mind had the perfect picture of Keefer, her mouth open and making the sounds that were emanating from her television. She soaked her fingers. Sheridan pulled her hand out of her pants and opened her eyes wide. "Fuck! I almost came," she nearly shouted. "Why the hell does she have to pop up all the time? You can't have her, so get over it already!"

The blonde frowned as she turned off the TV. Stalking into her bedroom, she started stripping off her clothes, her sweatpants were soaked and she would have to wipe herself before she could put on clean underwear. "Fuckin' shit..." she muttered, walking towards the bathroom. Wadding up some toilet paper, she rubbed it between her legs and groaned pathetically. "God... I can't," she sat down on the toilet and reached between her legs.

"Fucking Keefer..." she groaned as she worked herself to a quick orgasm. It did nothing for her state of arousal and she was a little bit startled by it. Usually, a quickie was able to take away some of the ache, but this did nothing for her. Washing her hands and face, she wondered about that.

To be continued...in Part 8