In the handshake line, Swin whispered to Katie, "Congrats, good game, Sveta and I need to talk to you later."

"Thanks, you too, and why?"

But even if Swin had been willing to provide an answer, the line had moved on before she had time to speak again, and Katie found herself posing that question to Ruth. The tall center bestowed a mysterious smile and another round of congratulations on her. To Katie, the number had always been empty, a nasty asterisked reminder that the WNBA would never accept her the way it had accepted less talented players who had first chosen the NBA-backed league, a millstone instead of a milestone. She didn't see the point in getting worked up about it either way. Now with this mystery of what Sveta and Swin had in common hanging over her head, she was even less interested in having hit five thousand points.

But the basket had gotten Tamika's strong arms around her in an exuberant hug, and maybe that made KT45K less of a stupid gimmick than it sounded. She caught Tamika's eyes on her and grinned; let everyone think it was in celebration of the big round number, but she and those who really mattered knew better. Tamika was in love with her and she loved Tamika, and that was enough reason to flash a perfect smile.

For a moment, Katie thought the mystery was going to be put on hold until their visit to Detroit, because Sveta merely looked at her with her famous stoic expression when she asked what was up with Swin. It would be just like the ditzy Detroit forward to claim that Sveta was involved in something without mentioning it to Sveta first. Swin was going to get a couple of forearm shivers the next time they played, if Katie had anything to say about it; such teases were unacceptable.

But after the locker room had nearly emptied, after Katie had stowed away her mouthguard and taken down her hair and slipped into a pair of tight black capris, and while she was shrugging into a baby blue tank top, Sveta tapped her on the shoulder. "Swin is waiting outside," the pretty Russian said, her clipped accent adding immediacy to the words.

"Took her long enough."

Sveta frowned. "She has waited for twenty minutes. She had to ensure that Tamika took the bait that Ruth left for her."

"Do I want to know why, or even how, Ruth is luring my girlfriend away?"

"How? With a record store and a gift card. Why? Because we need to talk to you without her around." Swin had a flair for the dramatic and an eye for what looked good; her pose in the doorway framed her perfectly and allowed her to flaunt her sharp red suit and matching two-inch stilettos.

"High heels are bad for people recovering from torn ACLs. At least that's what my doctor told me, though you'd think he'd think I didn't need advice like that," Katie remarked.

"Focus, Katie," Swin replied, dismissing the health concerns with a wave of her hand. Katie smiled when she saw the trouble Sveta had keeping her laughter muffled, since Swin asking someone to focus brought up conversations between pots and kettles.

"We need to warn you about Mika," Sveta said. "I have watched you as your relationship developed, and I think you are close to the point where this will come into play."

Swin indicated that Katie and Sveta should follow her. Sveta took off immediately, duffle bag over her shoulder. Confused but fascinated- as the UConn girls must have known she would be- Katie followed them. "Where are we going?"

"My car. From there, if we must, we are driving to the Detroit hotel for dinner. If not, then I will drive you home." Sveta stepped in front of Swin and led the way to her car. She got behind the wheel, indicating that Katie should ride shotgun. Swin, a slightly put out expression on her face, got into the backseat.

"I don't know if you've gotten into the past history thing yet with Mika. If you have, you know what I'm about to tell you. If not, well, here goes. Mika's my ex from college. We dated for three years before we broke up. My next two girlfriends were part of the reason, but not the whole reason. I couldn't stand playing into her kink anymore, and that's going some."

"She's got a kink? I've never noticed it before, though we haven't... you know. A lot. That's a step I haven't been comfortable taking yet." There was a note of sadness in Katie's voice, sadness and guilt about what she was doing to Shannon, even if Shannon had given her blessing.

"A major kink," Swin affirmed.

"Well, what is it?"

Swin met Sveta's eyes in the rearview mirror. Sveta muttered words in Russian under her breath. "I am sorry, it is taking me a moment to find the proper word to explain it. I do not know why Swin has left it to me." Somehow, Katie got the sense from Sveta's statement that she might not be the only one willing to play Swin a little rougher than usual when their teams faced off again.

"It makes me blush, and you know how that melts my makeup," Swin explained with a hint of a whine in her voice. She cast her gaze downwards, and when it became clear that Sveta wasn't going to find the word any time soon, she sighed theatrically and said, "Mika's kinky for dentistry."

Katie grinned. "That's great! That's perfect!"

"Kate... I don't mean she finds dentists sexy. I mean she finds dental stuff sexy. Like, she tried to buy a dentist's chair for our dorm room."

"One night, what she asked me to do to her with floss was... disturbing," Sveta said, shuddering at the memory.

"Haven't you ever noticed that you run out of toothpaste awfully fast around her? She eats it. And licks it."

"When we... she screamed 'Drill me, baby!' at her peak."

"She *likes* rubber gloves." Swin made a face at the fashion faux pas contained in that statement.

"She licked my teeth when we kissed."

"You too? I wondered about that." Katie settled back into the seat.

"We're not trying to tell you she's sick and disgusting. Kinks are kinks, and Mika's a nice enough girl that those aren't too bad." Swin put a hand on Katie's shoulder. "What we *are* worried about is that she's only using you, that she doesn't really love you."

"Swin and I think there is a very slender chance that she is only interested in you because you are going to be a dentist, not because of who you are. We are her friends, and we cannot let her do that to herself. And because I am your teammate, and because Swin played alongside you in Athens, we also cannot let her do that to you. We gave you this information because we felt you needed it, and you could not make a decision that was good for both of you without it."

"A... decision?"

"If she only loves you for your instruments, you have to let her go. It's not healthy otherwise. We might be wrong. Sveta often is." Sveta stuck her tongue out at Swin at that remark. "And it's not as if you wouldn't have found out on your own eventually. We just gave you a head start. See how awesome we are?" Katie laughed, which seemed to be Swin's cue to turn serious. "When you and Mika got into a relationship, you didn't just get involved with her. You got the whole package of us. UConn girls are family. We take care of each other. Don't get the idea that we're doing this just for your benefit. We're making sure Mika doesn't get hurt. If you do something stupid and break her heart, we'll have to kill you. That's what we do."

"Okay. I'll try to do something that doesn't get me killed."

"We would not murder you," Sveta said. Swin blew a raspberry, then got distracted by the chirping of her cell phone. Sveta continued, "At least, I do not think we would. Perhaps Diana might. She likes Mika, and she has a very bad temper. But I do not think she would be very serious about it."

"If that was supposed to make me feel better, it was a rousing failure," Katie grumbled.

"Okay, we're on our way. I think. Yeah, whatever. I love you too." Swin flipped her phone shut and spoke to the other two in the car. "That was Ruth. The record store refuses to stay open any longer, so Mika's driving Ruth back to the hotel before she goes on home. So if we're not headed towards the hotel, can we please be headed that way?"

"Since that was where we were supposed to go to continue this conversation if it needed to be continued, we are headed there." Swin's absentmindedness didn't ruffle Sveta one bit; like most former Huskies, she was used to Swin, and saw the other woman's faults as foibles more than anything else.

They arrived at the hotel without further incident; while Sveta and Swin exchanged gossip and recounted wildly embroidered stories, Katie pondered what they had told her, and tried to figure out if it were worth risking her romance with Mika to even use the information. Ruth was waiting out front with a small plastic bag and a faintly sheepish smile. "Oh, no. She's been shopping." Both Katie and Sveta burst out laughing at that, because Swin's own inclinations in that direction were legendary even outside their immediate sphere.

Once Swin had unjammed the seatbelt and gotten out of the car, she and Ruth shared a chaste kiss and a tight embrace. As they walked hand in hand into the hotel, both Katie and Sveta heard Swin's faint words carried on the wind: "So, what did you get? Come on, show me..."

"Nothing short of the apocalypse will change her, will it?" Katie asked with a smile.

"I do not think she would change even for the end of the world," Sveta replied after several moments of giving the matter serious thought. "If she went to heaven, she would be complaining about the cut of her robes. If she went to hell, she would tell the devil that the heat was ruining her hair, and she would like it very much if he turned it down."

"You know something? I think you're right. She's certainly got the guts to do something like that."

"Of course I am right. It is Swin who is wrong more often than I am, no matter what she says. We turn here for your home, yes?"

"Yeah. Damn, I wish I could remember if I gave Mika the spare key or not. That's going to drive me crazy if I let it."

"You did. If not, she is on your doorstep. She has not rented her own home yet. She lived with me until we parted. It was easier, and it meant she could use her housing allowance for other things." Sveta fell silent after that, preferring to concentrate on the road. Katie let her.

They pulled up in front of Katie's home. "Thanks for the ride, Sveta," Katie said, flicking a lock of her sandy hair out of her eyes. "Even if I will have to get a lift back to Target tomorrow to get my car."

"No problem." Sveta gave Katie a brief wave in farewell before driving off into the night. Katie adjusted a few straps, finger-combed her hair in a desperate panic, and strode towards her front door. By the time she was up the steps and through the front door, the stride had turned into a decided sway. Katie wasn't all that good at vamping, but for Mika, she was more than willing to give it a try.

Of course Mika was waiting for her in the bedroom. It was only natural. Katie opened the door and smiled. But the smile was gone very quickly as she realized how right Swin and Sveta had been, and how foolish she had been to sign up for that beta-testing list from Oral-B.

"Mika, what're you doin' with that toothbrush?"