Disclaimer: I don't own ER or any characters by Charles Schultz

Neela sprang out of bed after having a fabulous night's sleep, she had been looking forward to this for the last month – a whole entire Sunday off, the last time that had happened was, well, she couldn't remember that far back. She had practically skipped home when her Saturday evening shift finished and she stocked up on supplies just so she didn't need to leave the apartment the next day. Beer – check; ice-cream – check ; crisps and all things for vegging out – check!

The apartment had been empty when she arrived home, Ray was at another of his gigs and if it followed the usual routine, he wouldn't appear until the next night with the tired and slightly frazzled appearance of someone who hadn't had much rest, especially if he had had to work in the morning. She recalled one her friend's oft-used sayings, 'too much bed, not enough sleep'. Neela smiled wryly and gave herself a small shake, she wasn't going to let her mind go down that road again.

Neela dragged her blanket off her bed and plonked it onto the sofa before rooting through the fridge and freezer to make a childhood favourite- knickerbocker glory. She thought it a perfectly reasonable brunch food. After all, it had all her calcium needs and glace cherries and tinned fruit cocktail were still fruit and pondering the raspberry sauce, she came to the (weak) conclusion that it also had some slight degree of nutritional value. She popped the taped editions of Celebrity Poker into the machine and settled into her blanket. Today was the day she would go from serious surgical resident to poker player extraordinaire! Well, at least for one day. As the Vegas-style music began, she plunged her sundae spoon into the mountain of dairy deliciousness…and heard the front door open. Gaah!

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Ray put his key in the lock and tried to shush the glitter-covered blonde who giggled behind him. Thank fate that his rota had let him off this weekend, he didn't think he could cope with gigging and working the next day for much longer. He was definitely still a tad drunk. Grinning more to himself than anyone else, he pushed the door open to be met by the strains of Celebrity Poker and his room-mate's angry frown which only grew deeper when the blonde (what was her name again?) pushed him further forward so that they were now both inside the apartment.

What the…? He groaned inwardly. How could he forget? The calendar had been circled with red marker for as long as he could remember and she nearly danced a jig every time she looked at it and now he had ruined it. Better than any coffee, Ray sobered immediately and more or less shoved the groupie back into the hallway and closed the door her protestations but not before she left behind a gust of shimmering silver.

"Neela, I'm so sorry, I totally…," Ray had turned back to his roomie to find her advancing towards him, waving the long spoon threateningly at him, a murderous expression on her face which was only tempered by the sight of her baggy sweater and PJ bottoms with a blanket being trailed over her shoulder. He had to keep from smiling, she reminded him of that "Peanuts" kid, Linus?. He didn't think Schultz would ever had killed off Snoopy by use of dessert cutlery.

"Neela, look, I'll be quiet, let you have your lazy day in peace. C'mon, I even chucked out…um, …I didn't even bring anyone back." He smiled his quirky smile and used his secret weapon, "I taped a new episode of poker for you before I went out yesterday."

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She had been annoyed when she heard his voice but she hadn't really got angry until she heard the giggling. Why was she so upset? It wasn't like he had never brought anyone back before. No, if she was truthful, it was partly jealousy and had been for sometime now but really, it was his thoughtlessness. Short of living on another planet, he couldn't have failed to miss the fact she had been planning this day off for ages and a small part of her added, "If he cared just a little bit, he would have remembered."

Nonetheless, she was surprised by the not-so-gentle push he gave his latest conquest and the apology that was written all over his face. Neela was still trying to decide whether or not to perform a non-medical procedure with her spoon when he looked at her with those twinkling green eyes and said the magic words.

"Humph, well, as long as you do stay quiet and clean that glitter off our door, I won't have to do anything permanent to you." Neela moved back to the sofa with as much dignity as her slipper socks and trailing blanket would allow her. Pressing the 'Play' button, she watched the tall, lean frame of her room-mate fetch a soapy cloth from the kitchen sink and quickly wipe the sparkly flecks off the door but that course of action had the unfortunate effect of making the now-damp glitter stick to everything it came into contact with. Neela hid her growing smile behind another spoonful of sundae as Ray unknowingly transformed from punk-rocker to glam-rocker but was caused her to smile more was that he had taped her current favourite show without her asking.

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"Our door.. " Ray hadn't misheard. It was like a big hug to him and OK, so it wasn't exactly a declaration of love but it did mean that she considered the apartment home and consequently, he was part of that home. He finished cleaning the door and scooted to the shower where he looked into the mirror. Ah, jeez, Marc Bolan had nothing on him just now, thank goodness for hot running water and shower gel!

Now cleansed and dressed in similar attire to Neela's, he grabbed a glass of juice before sitting down next to her and finding a dish of ice-cream being thrust under his nose and the sound of her determined voice saying,

"If you're going to have a lazy day too, you have to do it properly."

"Wow, I didn't realise that relaxation was such hard work." Ice-cream sundaes had never really been his thing but he was more than flattered that she had got up to make one especially for him and the last thing he was going to do was reject it. Ray raised his own spoon in salute and was pleasantly surprised when Neela clinked it with her own and moved her blanket so that it covered Ray too. Sitting shoulder to shoulder, Neela quietly enjoyed breathing in the scent of Ray's freshly showered body before entering into their ongoing debate of who their favourite players were and who deserved to win.

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