Author's Note: Thank you all for following, favoriting and reviewing! It's greatly appreciated. And really does encourage me to continue writing.

WARNING: This chapter contains references to mature subject matter (nothing explicit, I don't think… yet.) Next week's chapter will probably cause the rating on this fic to go up to M, so it will disappear from the main page unless you adjust the filters.

Jeff Clarke's day had started off really, really well. The mild light of the morning sun had woken him with a gentle prodding, and when he rolled over he discovered it was caressing his gorgeous girlfriend's sleeping body. It gave her brown frizzy-curly hair a golden halo and accentuated the healthy glow of her exposed skin. They'd kicked off most of the blankets, as usually happened in the night, and her tank top was rucked up, caught just beneath her breasts, exposing the smooth, perfect skin of her back as she lay on her stomach.

It was the swell of her buttocks that had been unbearably enticing, smooth and round with only the scrap of fabric of her thong underwear covering her vulnerable parts. Sarah Reese was a slender woman. Some might call her skinny, but her figure was too feminine for him to consider her undesirably thin. She was perfect. She was only slightly on the tall side of average for a woman, but she had long, shapely legs. And her ass was just... mouth watering perfection.

He hadn't been able to resist her in that prone, unguarded position, glowing and beautiful in the morning sunlight. He'd shed his flannel pants and had pulled the underwear off from her and was straddling her legs, kissing the small of her back before she stirred from sleep. He'd leaned over her to whisper in her ear.

"Good morning, Strawberry."

She made a darling waking noise in response, not yet coherent enough for words. But Jeff knew how to rouse the young woman from her morning daze. He kissed his way down her back, drawing more cute little noises from her as she rose from the depths of unconsciousness. He kissed the swell of her left buttock, and then unable to resist, gave the smooth, full, supple flesh a bite. Just a little nip. But it made her squeak and jerk.

She tried to roll over onto her back, but he put he grabbed her waist and pinned her down on her stomach.

"Stay." He'd waited a moment to see if she shot down his attempt to assert control over her, but she didn't laugh at him or try to throw him off from her, or tell him she wasn't in the mood to entertain his male ego. And for Sarah, doing what he said without curious inquiries was the same as compliance and consent. Actually, he'd learned that she sometimes liked to surrender control to him. It kept things more interesting. He enjoyed making love to her as equals, but he also liked when she took control or allowed him to dominate her.

And that morning, she'd submitted to him with little prompting, and utterly destroyed him in the process. He was so far gone for her, he would do literally anything she asked of him. Yet, she either didn't know she had him wrapped around her slender little fingers, or was good-hearted enough not to take advantage of that fact. Or maybe she just loved him in return.

He hoped that was the case. But she'd been weird since Natalie showed up later that morning. Sarah had even turned him down for lunch, the first time she'd done that since they'd officially started seeing one another six months ago.

Had it really only been six months? He'd never been as close to anyone as he was to Sarah Reese. It felt like they'd known each other for years. Maybe it was just her ability to-

"Jeff, you still on this planet?" Natalie smiled at him, but her brow was furrowed with concern. He shook off the horrifying thought that Sarah was upset with him, or maybe the novelty of their relationship had worn off, and she didn't really feel the way he felt about her. (A sadly common occurrence in his romantic history.)

"Uh, yeah." He gave his old friend a smile. "We still on for tonight?"

"If you're feeling up to it..." Her brown eyes were studying him. Was his worry about Sarah's odd behavior so obvious?

"Of course. I'm happy to do it."

"Thanks." Nat gave his arm a squeeze, her hand lingering. She hadn't touched him in such a way since she'd ended their brief affair. It wasn't really inappropriate, just more intimate than generally occurred between former-lovers trying to be friends again (and therefore carefully avoiding physical contact).

Only, why did it feel inappropriate?

Maybe it was because when he glanced up from Nat's smiling face, he caught the look on Sarah Reese's before she turned and fled the ED the way she came. Her perceptive brown eyes had been large, her wide mouth pursed into a frown. He might as well have stabbed her. He'd done nothing wrong and yet, he couldn't feel angry over what was obviously just unfounded jealousy on her part. All he could think about was going after her and making it right.

So of course that's when alarms when off in one of his patient's rooms. April called for his assistance, and he had no choice but to let the woman he loved run away, probably thinking the worst of him.

Because he was a resident now and had more responsibilities. He hadn't minded being a med student much. The US Marine Corps had taught him how to follow orders, not blindly, but without hesitation. But being a CFD lieutenant with a squad of his own had accustomed him to carrying the burden of other people's lives. It wasn't a light one.

He'd have to figure out why his friendship with Nat bothered Sarah so much and how to fix things later. He would fix it.

The latex of the glove snapped against the sensitive skin of his wrist as he pulled it on, forcing out any last lingering distractions as April announced the dropping stats of his pneumonia patient.

...

Sarah rapped on the door and stepped inside before she could chicken out again. Her mentor looked up from the papers he'd been studying, pulling his reading glasses off his face to allow his eyes to focus on her.

"Is there something I can help you with, Dr. Reese?"

Dr. Charles had that expression on his face that Sarah deeply envied. She never could manage to emulate its non-judgmental (yet not distant or aloof, either), open (but not artificially friendly), curious and warm aspect. Maybe it took most people years of practice. It would likely take her even longer. But it probably came naturally to the older psychiatrist. Because 'compassionate listener' seemed to be who the man was at his core.

She on the other hand... She was just curious, almost nosy. That's why she was drawn to psychiatry, trying to figure out what was going on in other people's heads, like a gossipy neighbor peeking through the blinds. God, she was a horrible person. She was even being petty in her personal life, feeling jealous and resentful of Natalie Manning for absolutely no reason. Just because the beautiful, perfect woman had the audacity to be friends with Jeff Clarke.

"Did the sedatives not calm Mrs. Wilson?"

She blinked and shook her head to get the poisonous, irrational thoughts out.

"Did you try upping the dosage?" Dr. Charles pushed his chair away from his desk and started to get to his feet. "

"Yes. I mean, no." Sarah took a breath. "Mrs. Wilson is fine. I just checked on her and she's resting comfortably."

His brow furrowed ever so slightly as he sat back down and waited for her to explain herself.

"There was something I was wondering about..." Oh, just ask. "Do you know any techniques for controlling irrational thoughts?"

His dark brows lifted. And yet that non-judgmental, friendly-but-not-too-friendly expression remained as he gestured to the chair across from his desk. Sarah tried not to look too relieved as she plopped down into it, her legs and feet aching. It was strange how sometimes you didn't realize how fatigued you were until you finally stopped moving.

"What sort of irrational thoughts are we talking about?" he said, taking on his lecturer's tone. "Because that very much influences the manner in which they should be dealt with. Also, the source needs to be taken into consideration, whether they're resultant from a serious underlying mental or physical condition."

Physical condition? God, was she so incredibly transparent? How could he know? She had just barely got her blood test results back.

"Just unfounded feelings..."

He made a thoughtful noise and shifted, leaning forward slightly, a clear indicator he was not only engaged in the conversation but perhaps a little worried by it.

"As you know, Dr. Reese, feelings are never unfounded," he said. "Whether they're a psychological response to an event or physically-induced."

She sighed. He was correct. And she knew where her irrational thoughts were coming from. And there was no way her mentor hadn't figured out she was talking about herself.

"I know you can't just prescribe a treatment for a patient you haven't evaluated yourself..."

"But I can give advice to a friend." He gave her a smile and his expression warmed a little further from professional to downright amiable. "What's bothering you, Sarah?"

Just get it over with, like ripping a band-aid off. Because she hadn't gotten anywhere mulling everything over and over in her own head, trying to calm herself down and fight her stupid feelings, figure out a way to let Jeff know how she was feeling without hurting him, or insulting him. Because he had done nothing wrong. It was all in her head.

"I was at my uh, boyfriend's apartment this morning and his ex showed up. They're still friends. And I trust him. I really, really do. But-"

"Seeing Dr. Clarke and Dr. Manning together, even platonically makes you jealous." Of course, Dr. Charles knew who she was romantically involved with, knew that Jeff and Natalie had had a brief affair a year ago. It actually made her feel a little better to know that the always professional-seeming psychiatrist might just be a plain old nosy neighbor at heart, too.

Sarah nodded, biting her lip as she battled with herself to give him the whole story. Doctors always needed a complete history, a complete picture in order to give the best diagnosis and treatment, didn't they?

"And I'm pregnant."

Even the seasoned therapist couldn't mask his surprise. But he quickly tempered it witha slight grin and curious, studious gaze.

"Congratulations?"

Sarah supposed he was right to hedge his bets by making it a question.

"It's not an entirely unplanned." Dr. Charles blinked at her, and more information than strictly necessary spewed from her mouth. "We weren't actively trying. Just not using birth control. But not for stupid reasons like comfort or anything. We discussed it and decided to just see what happened. But I didn't think the first sign of being pregnant would be having irrational thoughts."

Now her mentor's professional distance had melted entirely into genial rapport as he chuckled good-naturedly and reached to pat her hand.

"Seems to me that your irrationality is perfectly rational," he said, smiling at her. "Its roots are probably in an instinct evolved before homo sapiens even existed as a species. You're feeling territorial about the man who's fathering your offspring."

Sarah frowned. His reasoned argument was making her feel better. But it probably wouldn't prevent her from turning into a green-eyed monster if she saw Dr. Manning touching Jeff again.

"You're saying that my jealousy isn't irrational, probably just unfounded," she said, trying to summarize the conversation to wrap her brain around it. "That it doesn't mean I'm doubting Jeff. Just that I..." she blushed. "I love him."

"Love's a complicated thing." He winked.

Sarah was beaming a little when she got up. She'd been afraid that the man she respected would think less of her for bothering him with such silly problems, or worse think she was as petty as she'd felt. But he actually seemed to like her, was a friend to her, even seemed to be happy for her as he smiled and congratulated her again on the impending child.

Oh, god.

"I, uh, I just found out today," she said, feeling anxious again. "I haven't even told Jeff yet. And he acts all unflappable but it would hurt him if he learned that I didn't tell him first."

"Sarah, not even as a psychiatrist, but as a friend, I hold our conversations in the strictest confidence," he said, looking serious once again. "But you had better tell him as soon as possible if you want him to hear it from you. There's a lot of observant doctors around here. And gossipy ones, too."

Dr. Charles was right. He most often was. But by the time she had made her way back to the ED, Jeff had already left for the day... with Natalie Manning.

A/N: Will Sarah be able to break her news to Jeff? Or will something or someone else get in the way? What is he doing with Natalie? (Promise it will be revealed in the next chapter. Also likely to involve some smut and this fic will be bumped up to a higher rating.)