1 Notes: Abbey finds out that working the night-shift has it's advantages. f/f fanfic, so if that's inappropriate for where you live/you hate this stuff, back out ASAP. No spoilers (except if you haven't seen the 2001/02 season yet). Pairing – hell, that would spoil the thing, wouldn't it?

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3 Oh yeah, and for the purposes of this fic, radiology has a drugs cupboard

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5 Four_horsemen_of_the_apocalypse@hotmail.com for constructive criticism

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer (see my covering doc)

6 Unexpected happenings

7 By the Horseman

Oh God thought Abbey Lockhart. I hate night shifts

All she'd done was to complain to Susan Lewis that she had little to do. She hadn't pulled a night shift in ages, not until that psycho had moved in next to her. Now she was pulling every one she could. If she just had to look at Luka Kovac trying desperately not to ogle his girlfriend's ass one more time, she'd kill herself

So she'd gone to ask Susan for something to do. And what did she get? Apparently, radiology had wanted someone to sort out their drugs cupboard. So they'd badgered Susan. And Susan had assigned Carol. And then Carol decided to 'come down with a bug' (yeah, right….) just before she'd got round to it

And so Abbey had been drafted….

She entered the cupboard, and looked at the pile on the cart that Carol had left for her. God, it was more than 40 deep, and stacked into 10 little rows. Ah well, she said to herself. That's what you get for having to pull night shifts. She got started on the pile

10 minutes later, she was about half-way through, and still as bored as ever. She reached for drug number one million (she'd long since lost count) and began to search for where it went. After a small search, she found the right box, and reached up to put it away

Abbey stopped for a second. There seemed to be a noise coming from X-ray. A steady 'thud, thud, thud'. Her hand hovered in the air, the packet half in while she tried to make out what it was.

It sounded like someone having sex.

She stifled an involuntary gasp. It was. The 'thud' noise had a steady rhythm, and outside of Dr Weaver doing an impression of Frankenstein (she'd always put Abbey more in mind of this movie she'd seen once – 'Countess Dracula'), it had to be someone having sex.

The question was – who?

She remained still, her mind running through the possibilities. None of the other docs in the hospital would dare use the X-ray room – they didn't have a good reason to go down to X-ray that often. And Anspaugh would have their heads. Only the ER ones had the excuse to be down there often enough

So that left her co-workers

She pocked the packet into the space in the cupboard, and carefully moved closer to the window separating the drugs cupboard from the X-ray room. The blinds were well closed, she noticed. Whoever it was, they were being damn cautious about it

Her mind raced through the possibilities, eager to share with Carol or Malik whoever it was who was having the secret affair. It couldn't be Lewis, could it? No, she reminded herself. She was probably still in Trauma 1 with that burns victim. She couldn't have finished up a 50% victim that quickly.

Carter was at home, asleep

Luka? Again, it couldn't be. He was at home, and Frank would have been sure to tell her if he'd come in. Frank? Eugh! Her face screwed up in revulsion. Way beyond the line she chastised herself. If it was Frank, she'd just go back to sorting the drugs out. I mean, she liked the guy but…..

She inched closer to the window, her ear pressed up against the glass as she strained to hear what the hell was going on

Well, whoever it was, they must be doing it pretty quietly. She could hear faint moans, definitely from a woman, but they must be on the other side of the room. She couldn't quite make out……

'Oh God! That's so good! God, I love you! Oh yes! YES! YES! YES!'

She startled back from the glass, almost giving away her presence by knocking over an bag of lydicane. Oh my god. That was Jing-Mei Chen

She took a couple of seconds out to compose herself. It wasn't exactly like she hadn't figured out that Jing-Mei had sex. She'd been pregnant after all. It was just that Abbey had always found her a bit anal (definitely not a screamer). And she was meant to be at home, asleep. She just couldn't visualise Dr 'Can-do-no-wrong' Chen using the ER for sex.

More to the point, who with?

She inched further towards the glass again, and cupped her ear, already pressed against the window, to hear who Jing-Mei Chen's new boyfriend was.

They must have just finished, or otherwise the man was not as loud as Chen when having sex….

No, she could hear…..was that mewing?

Men didn't mew. Hell, Richard had never mewed on her, even when she'd done that thing with his toenails. And Luka probably would have died before he'd thought about it

Which meant that…..No, it couldn't be

Dr. Jing-Mei Chen, pride of the ER residents, as 'bout as WASPy as it was possible to be, was engaged in what sounded like passionate Sapphic congress in the middle of the night, having probably snuck in so that she and her lover could fuck while the fewest number of people were around. They probably got off screwing at the hospital

This was so damn hot it was off the scale

She had to hear who it was. Already precariously balanced, she brought her other hand up to the glass to cup her ear from the other side, making sure that all noise was blocked out

Damn. If Chen was a screamer, then the other woman was as quite as a dormouse. Hell, considering that the 'thud' was even louder than before, that was impressive…..

The other woman had just grunted. Loudly. And she knew that grunt. She'd heard it before. In Trauma 2 the other day

It had been a GSW. And the supervising doc had been the one to take most of the weight when they'd turned the guy. She'd grunted loudly at having to push so hard

OH MY GOD!

Her brain made the necessary connections, and Abbey Lockhart jumped five feet in the air, knocking over a dozen things as she went

She'd never have suspected this in her life. I mean, they'd always been so bitchy at each other in the ER. But when everybody knew that she'd been listening….

The thudding noise stopped abruptly, and she could hear, ever so faintly, the noise of someone getting up off a bed.

Oh shit!

She had about forty seconds, she reckoned, with the two women getting their clothes and unlocking the door. Forty seconds before they found out it was her. And that couldn't happen. She had to get out of there.

Now

Not minding about the scattered drugs, she bolted out of the cupboard, and up the stairs into the ER, ignoring the looks from the waiting patients

She felt someone grab her shoulders, and looked up into the face of Susan Lewis

"Hey!" said the blond doctor. "Slow down there, Abbey! Drugs can't be that boring!"

She muttered something about wanting to get the last doughnut before Jerry ate it, and Susan let her go, shouting at her to see about the burns victim. She mumbled her reply

""""""""""""""""""

She didn't see either Jing-Mei or her lover until the next day. She'd agreed to pull a double to cover for Malik, who was going to his granddad's funeral. And who should be on the desk but the woman who made Jing-Mei Chen scream

"Hi Abbey" she said. "There's a guy with a bad scar in Exam 3 who use your attention"

"Sure Dr. Weaver"