Chapter 1

The calm was broken with a familiar swish of the ambulance bay doors "Gurney coming in!"

"What do we got?" the heavier of the two paramedics chimes in "oh, hey Doc Weaver…Looks like a deliberate overdose"

"Deliberate?" Questioned the Chief," well she was holding this when we got there" tossing over an empty prescription bottle to the red headed doctor as he handed off his patient.

"OK, let get her in trauma 1…" Kerry handed off the empty bottle to Abby and began assessing her patient's vitals and responses.

Abby found the chief alone in the room finishing off the chart, "they are moving her up to Psych in a little bit, um…" "Abigail? What now?" asked Kerry, the nurse hands the empty prescription bottle to Kerry, "look at the name of the of the Doctor who prescribed these"

Kerry grabs it, adjusted her glasses for a better view, "Hmmm, did not see that coming…" Abby grabbing it back. Should we call and let her office know she's been admitted?"

Kerry sighs, "Probably, If it was my patient, I would want to know… You mind doing it?" "Sure, no worries…"

Clearing her throat to get the gum chewing assistants attention, Randi eventually looked up from the computer screen, a big smile broke over her face "Well, hey Dr. Legs?! I mean Legaspi, How are you?"

With a tilt of the eyebrow and the ever present start of a smile, Kim addressed Randi with muted enthusiasm. "I'm good Randi, thank you, although, I got a rather unexpected call from Abby Lockhart today, she around?" "Um, yeah"...said the assistant as she reached for the phone "hold on a sec, let me page her"

Kim relaxed just a little as she scanned the nearly empty ER, catching just a quick glimpse of red before Randi got her attention by tapping her over the top finger nails on the counter causing Kim to quickly turn back around, before Randi could continue she was interrupted by the very person Kim was scanning for.

"I'm out Randi! Henry is going to give me hell!" Kerry shouted as she struggled to balance binders while getting her coat on, "Doctor Weaver, look who's here" Kerry shifts around to see she was only feet away from the woman who literally unhinged her life five years ago.

"Kim, what are you-"... shaking her head, "that's right, your patient was the OD...right, yeah umm, Abby can fill you in I have to run" looking back at Randi "the pre-school day care charges for every minute I'm late…" looking down and then taking a breath as if trying to center herself, "Good to see you Kim, really...you, um, look great…"

With that Kerry rushed past her and headed out the ER's doors.

With so much stuff thrown at her in a flurry of seconds Kim had no idea what to process first, looking back at Randi, she breathed out "Day Care?" deciding, that seemed to stand out the most.

Randi gave a mischievous grin, "Abby's waiting for you in the lounge"

Kim found Abby at her locker as she gathered her stuff to leave, "Kim, good timing!" said Abby, "Have you seen your patient yet?"

"Yeah, I just left her" Kim moved around the nurse to look at Abby directly "thank you for having the thought to let me know. Margo's been a patient of mine since I got back, acute depression, I believed we were making strides, never thought she would try this, I guess you never know for sure."

Abby stopped for a minute taking Kim in, "Again, No worries, I just figured if it was me I would have wanted my own Doctor there when I came to"

Kim took a minute to digest that thought. Abby continued, "So, you're back then? In Chicago I mean?"

Kim nodded, "Yep, about a year now...private practice." Abby tilted her head and gave Kim a skeptical look, "A year, wow...what took you so long to visit the old gang?" She said with a half smirk

Kim didn't bite "Just busy I guess, but looks like there has been some changes"

"I guess you can say that" hitching her bag over her shoulder, "want to grab a coffee?"

It had been quite some time since Kim had sat in this booth in this diner but it felt perfectly normal to her, in fact everything about this visit to county felt familiar, even the parts that left her unnerved.

Kim thought it best to start small..."How's your Mom?" Abby smiled, "Really good actually...I never got a chance to thank you for all you did for her...for us."

Kim smiled genuinely, "I'm glad to hear that Abby." Kim looked up as the waitress dropped off two steaming cups of coffee to the table. She reached for one and cupped it as if she was trying to siphon off the heat from it "How are you doing?" she asked knowingly. Abby just stared as if she was really thinking about how best to respond...finally she said, "I'm OK, not great but I've been worst too, so I think I can say unequivocally, I'm ok." This made Kim laugh, with a nod she acknowledged that she understood, and left it at that, knowing to quit when ahead.

With that Abby broke the silence "So, Kerry?" causing Kim to chuckle, "that transparent huh?"

"Oh yeah…"Abby drew out the last part. Kim decided to stop with the games and just come out with it. "She has a kid?" Abby, knowing she needed to tread very carefully when discussing her boss's personal life, "Umm hmm, a 3 year old, almost 4 now." Kim digested this, "Henry is her husband?" This made Abby laugh a little bit, knowing full well Kim was fishing but instead of calling her on it she decided to play along "Oh, wow, I guess you are out of the loop, Kerry's gay"...Kim nearly choked on the sip she just took. Abby paused before continuing as Kim regained her composure.

"I thought you knew that about Kerry, I mean, the rumor was, she came out to Romano in the men room during an argument about your dismissal...even said she would quit if he didn't offer you your job back, Luka said she threatened to sue him and the hospital for harassment." Kim sat dumbfounded as Abby went on, suddenly the missing pieces started to fall into place. In truth, Romano had offered Kim her job back, but the offer seemed a bit too disingenuous, beside she knew she couldn't stay at County with Kerry, hell, she could even stay in the same city as the Redhead.

Kim absorbed the new information before continuing with the interrogation. "So she's involved then? Long term kind of way?" Again, Abby thought about how to proceed, deciding she was in to far now to start backtracking "Her partner, Sandy, died in the line of duty a few years ago, she was a firefighter."