Heated Moments

By: Eyes-of-Pearl

Rating: T

Disclaimer: ER and A Walk to Remember belongs to their respective owners.

Author's Note: Ok, so I expanded my hiatus much longer than I thought I needed. I had no muse whatsoever to write and found myself deviating to other fandoms. It came to a point where I am questioning my capabilities of writing another good quality ER fanfic and whether I still have any readers left at the end of the day. Not only that, my personal life has taken a turn. For better or for worse, well, that remains to be seen, but it has left me with a relatively less time to write for pleasure.

Anyways, I come now to this story. This fic will be longer, nothing like my full feature, ER-A Walk to Remember crossover, "In This Life." It is an AU. I guess it can be part of the series, Diaries of Neela and Ray, but it can be read as a separate piece. Knowledge of my previous fics, in particular "In This Life" and "By Correspondence," isn't necessary, but some may found it beneficial. The rating is up and I will warn you now that this will be different from the standard Roomie fic.

Synopsis: She felt the heat, whether it was the proximity of his body or the humidity of the African sun, she couldn't be sure. All she saw were his eyes which betrayed his hunger and desire. She swallowed hard.

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Heated Moments

Chapter 1

She scanned the spanning tundra, across the arid lands. The sun was about to set, inches from caressing the horizon. Still, she found the air to be stifling. Using the back of her hand, she wiped the sweat from her brow. She heard the sounds of the shoes crunching against the earth coming from behind her. She turned and the figure stopped short, slightly embarrassed as if he was a child caught stealing from grandma's cookie jar. She smiled encouragingly for him to join her. After all, he really wasn't trying to be discrete and she didn't want him to be awkward in her company.

He nodded at her silent encouragement, as he stood to her right. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his khakis and surveyed the scenery. "Have you been waiting long, Dr. Chen?"

She turned a raised eyebrow at him. She always felt ten times older around him. Catching her expression, he tried amending himself, "I mean, Dr. Carter? Ah... Jing-Mei?"

Her Chinese name sounded foreign on his tongue. "I don't bite, Dr. Barnett."

Still, the Chinese woman knew that she should give him some credit, because she could easily identify with his agitation. The reason was the same as hers, except she hid it better than the younger doctor next to her.

They - meaning John, Ray, Neela and herself had been part of a humanitarian effort comprised of various volunteer medical personnel from around the world, who were stationed here in Dafur. There was a temporary ceasefire of sorts where the local governments had allowed UN sanctioned medical aid to come into the region.

The four Chicago doctors had decided to volunteer their expertise on the field. It was initially John's idea, who had prior experience when he and Dr. Luka Kovac decided to go overseas to help on an international level. Jing-Mei herself, had been weary of the daily grind of County General Hospital. She loved medicine but she guessed that she reached the point of burning out in the ER. The relationship with her mother had been more painfully strained since her marriage to John Carter, so she saw the opportunity of going to Dafur as an escape. Perhaps, she could renew her aspirations in helping a small part of humanity. Her thoughts drifted to the doctor next to her. Ray Barnett, he was so far away from the rocker / jock that he normally portrayed himself. He was playing the part of the concerned husband who was feeling acutely the separation from his wife, Neela Ragostra. She sighed knowingly because she too, was worried about a prolonged absence from John.

"Their car should be coming from that dot in the horizon," she said.

Ray followed the direction of her finger. In a subtle way, she relayed that she too, was watching for the Jeep that would bring John Carter and Neela Ragostra back to the camp that they were currently staying in. Ray knew that he didn't really have a huge reason to worry. They were relatively safe and besides, Neela was in good hands. She had wanted to tag along with Carter and Jing-Mei who were picking up extra supplies at another camp which was a good hour drive away. Limited by space, since Carter was also accompanied by one of the local guides in the area, Jing-Mei offered to stay on the camp. There was nothing that Ray could do, as he watched the vehicle drove away. His and Neela's reasons for coming to Dafur were of a personal nature. It had been one of Neela's goals to join Doctor's Without Borders, while he was here to honour one of his first wife's lifelong wishes.

Before he married Neela or became Dr. Ray Landon Barnett at County General, he had been Landon Rollins Carter - certified bad boy and potential high school dropout. That was before he got in trouble and landed in a school play where he met Jamie Elizabeth Sullivan. Jamie was different, not just because she was the Reverend's daughter or that she had a powerful voice behind her sweaters and love for books. She had faith; she had dreams; she also had leukemia. She had aspired to find a miracle and join the peace corps, hit a home run and be at two places at once. Some of her dreams were never fulfilled when she died at the age of 18. Landon had loved Jamie - his wife, his first love, the one person who found the goodness in him.

Now, Neela who too had suffered a tragedy in her own life had inspired him that there were still dreams and love left in this life. Their coming together had been rocky and uncertain. Even now, there were working through a rough patch in their marriage, whether to travel the world or settle down to have children. It was a choice of personal careers vs. long term commitment as potential parents.

Yet, only two weeks in this African country, neither of them regretted the decision to come here. There was so much to do, treating the patients who walked miles across the desert to see a health professional about a wide spectrum of ailments. There wasn't just a single problem, but one which led to a stream of others. Vaccination was on the agenda, so was basic human nutrition. Hundreds were infested with diseases and all of them were affected by the famine. Yet, there were some issues that were taboo for the people here - sex education, contraceptives, AIDS. Some things were just not talked about here.

On top of that, there was always the constant reminder that Dafur was still in a volatile state of affairs. There was still plenty of tension between the militant groups. Hence, the worry that both Jing-Mei and Ray faced as they waited for the Jeep to return to camp with extra supplies.

Ramalah Camp, the current site which they were situated, was set up with one side designated as a medical barrack which housed the communication system and three rows of beds and the other side was the sleeping quarters. In the middle was the communal eating area which was conveniently situated near a well -the only source of clean water.

In addition to the four American doctors, there was another doctor named Stephen Dakarai and a nurse, Debbie who both had been at Ramalah for over a year. There were two local guides who spoke the regional language. Behind the lanky form of Rashid was a demon behind the wheel. In more than one instance, did he drove the camp's truck to outrun some of African wildlife. His brother Rafiki was a picture of calm and serenity. He told amazing stories around the communal fires that were put on every night.

There were other camps similar to theirs in the area, but the closest major hospital was in El Fashir. The journey was very treacherous with the danger of being stopped by the Janjaweed militant group.

Jing-Mei found the wait to be impossibly long. Her sleeveless top did nothing to alleviate the stifling heat. However, she was quickly drawn from her musings by the familiar sounds of tires running against the rocky terrain of the Sudanese desert. At the front of the vehicle was Rashid, with a single hand on the wheel and the other was raised, waving at them. Both she and Ray returned his greeting as he braked the car in front of them.

At the sound of the Jeep, the camp came alive. Both Dr. Dakarai and Debbie emerged from the direction of the medical barracks to help unload the supplies. Rafiki spoke softly to Rashid off to the side. Carter jumped from the vehicle. His sunglasses hid his eyes, but she knew that his hazel ones were drawn to her onyx ones.

"What took you so long?" she said as he made his way over to her side.

"Did I worry you?"

"I hope that is a rhetorical question," she replied, slightly indignantly, but in a teasing sort of way.

"I was lost without you, Deb."

"That is so cheesy, John Carter."

He let out a husky laugh, as he encircled his arms around her. The two made their way to the other side of the truck, helping with the last of supplies before making their way back to the sleep quarters.

Neela was getting out of the Jeep, when she found herself staring down at Ray - her husband. Without words, he communicated to her his fears, and his relief of seeing her return. She reached out to cup his face in her left hand and traced her right index finger down his jawline, "Ray."

"Neela." He sank his face deeper into the palm of her hand, drawing comfort in the physical contact. He didn't need to verbalize all the horrible scenarios that had ran through his mind in the last hour. The threat here was real, but he knew that he could not truly prevent Neela from being out of his sight.

Ramalah was winding down to its nightly activities. Patients never truly stopped coming. Some of them ended up staying in the barracks. Others waited near the outskirts of the camp. The one thing that changes is the temperature which drops drastically with the setting of the sun. Neela snuggled closely into the embrace of her husband. His strong arms formed a protective shield around her lithe form. She easily caught the sounds of him humming into her ear, lulling her to sleep.

End of Chapter 1

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AN: Ok, so by now, you have figured out that this takes place in Darfur. There will be a story behind this, so please be patient. I'll be honest when I say that I haven't seen the two actual ER episodes which take place in this setting. In other words, Pratt won't be in this one, and I'll be playing around with the storyline. Hence, the AU in the beginning of the story. Anyways, let me know what you guys think, 'k.