"Ewww, gross!" That's me pealing the rotten tomatoes off of myself that everyone is throwing at me for not updating quicker. Alright, here you go. Sorry it's been so long between posts. I just sort of needed a little break. You'll probably still be mad in that there's no Romano in this chapter, though. Interesting plot twists evolving here and good Kerry/Elizabeth confrontation. I go back and forth a little between locations. I hope it makes sense and I hope you'll still like it. Please let me know. Next chapter will go up sooner than this one did.

PG-13 - for gruesome injury.

I said in the beginning, that this story would be about 20 chapters, but now it's looking more like 30. I just kept thinking of more stuff to add. What can I say?

Chapter 18 - Caught

"Whata ya got?!"

"Deep penetrating stab wound to the upper gastric area with garden sheers. BP 110/70; Pulse ox 90. Victim was stabbed all of a sudden by his wife while he was mowing. Guess he planted the wrong kind of flowers," yelled Doris. She had just barged through the ambulance bay doors with three other paramedics and a bleeding man on a gurney. They had called ahead, so Kerry was waiting for them when they arrived. She had been working down in the ER all week. The victim was a young man of around 25 years of age. He wore a blue t-shirt with Khaki shorts and was screaming in excruciating pain.

There had been a small blanket covering the man's wound, which Kerry pulled off immediately. "Oh, God," she whispered and winced slightly. "They're still in him?"

"Yeah," answered Doris plainly without even a hint of caring. Not only were the garden sheers still imbedded deep within the man's stomach, they had obviously been open when he was stabbed, so he actually had two wounds close together.

"His wife did this?" Kerry asked. She didn't know any woman strong enough to stab a man so deep with open sheers.

"Big woman," answered Doris plainly with her lip curled.

Working down in the ER all week was definitely getting to Kerry. Stuff like this didn't usually bother her, but lately, it did. She could feel herself everyday getting more and more behind on her work, so it made her a little more emotional in regards to the patients. She knew it wouldn't be long before Donald would step in and do her work for her. That would be a nightmare. Thankfully, however, Kerry did have a plan in line for who would take the place of ER Chief...as long as that person would accept the position.

They took the patient into Trauma Two. "On my count," stated Kerry, "One...Two...Three." They moved him over and Doris waltzed away immediately.

"Thank God it's Friday," muttered Doris under her breath as she left.

Kerry began her routine. She whipped on her stethoscope and checked the guy's chest, but she couldn't hear anything over his screaming.

"Will somebody please get this guy some morphine, now!" She turned to the patient, "Sir...sir, I need you to calm down." It didn't help, so Kerry tried a different approach. "Can you tell me your name?"

Finally, he slowly quieted down, but he was still breathing hard, clinging to the sheets and tensing every muscle. "Todd," he answered.

"Todd what?"

"Caldwell."

After listening to his heart, Kerry began to check his eyes and reflexes. Todd Caldwell seemed confused by her actions. "Aren't you gonna get these outta me?!" He was shocked she hadn't just yanked them out already.

"We don't want to do that here. It might actually cause more damage if we do. A surgeon will have to do that," replied Kerry. She then turned to a nurse and spoke quieter, "Let's get more O-negative down here and page Dr. Corday." Kerry also listed a bunch of medical tests for them to run on Mr. Caldwell. The nurse nodded while writing on a chart and subsequently disappeared. After she left, Kerry just stared at the young man's wound.

Suddenly Susan and Pratt bounded into the room while putting on gloves and goggles. "Mmm, that's pretty," stated Susan as she spotted the man's injury. The morphine had taken affect, so he had calmed down some. He was still breathing hard, though. "Did you page surgery?" asked Susan.

"Yeah, they should be here soon," answered Kerry. But, she didn't look up at Susan when she spoke. She still just stood there staring at the patient's stomach with her mouth parted open a bit. Susan noticed this and stared at Kerry for a few moments with a bemused expression. Pratt wasn't paying attention to the two ladies at all. He just began to examine the guy on the table.

"It's okay, Kerry. We've got this," spoke up Susan politely. Kerry didn't respond. She had seemed to be having these little spells quite frequently. She would just stare into oblivion. Susan had been noticing this going on lately and figured it was because Kerry was so overworked right now and she was right. Kerry was exhausted and stressed. But she was also upset and worried about a lot of things. She was actually feeling guilty about firing Robert, for one. Her only reason had been to save her own ass. And if Alderman Bright wasn't going to ask for any more favors, then firing Robert hadn't been necessary. But, on the other hand, could she really trust and believe anything Jonathan said? She felt she was digging her own grave and it was just getting deeper. Sooner or later she'd fall in and be buried for good. She had hoped all this guilt and fear would pass, but after a full week, it was only getting worse.

"Kerry?" said Susan emphatically. Kerry finally woke up out of her daze.

"Huh?" asked Kerry.

"We've got this. You can go."

"Right," said Kerry. "Um, actually, do you have a minute, Susan?"

"Sure." Susan was hesitant and concerned, but followed Kerry outside in the hall.

"I talked to Anspaugh yesterday," began Kerry, "and we both agreed that if you would be willing, we'd love for you to take the position of 'Chief of Emergency Medicine.'" Kerry became automatically professional while talking to Susan, trying to hide any trepidation in her voice. The truth was Kerry was to the point of begging her to take this off her hands.

Susan's eyebrows shot up. "Me?"

"I know it's sudden. But, we both think you'd do a wonderful job. You know what the job takes. You work well with the other staff. You've already been a wonderful asset to the department."

"Well, this would be temporary?" Susan presumed.

"Actually, no. It would be permanent."

Susan just stared at her open mouthed. "Uh...gee, Kerry, I don't know. It'd be a lot of responsibility. Can I think about it?" Her tone gave an obvious hint of not really wanting the job, but Kerry chose to ignore this.

"Sure, sure, absolutely. I understand it's a big step. Just let me know when you've made your decision." With that, Kerry left Susan standing there in the hallway, feeling more than a little confused. Surely with a little effort, Kerry could have found someone better than her.

Kerry walked up to the admit desk and just began to go through some files flippantly. After a minute, she closed the files and leaned on the counter with her head in her hand, rubbing her forehead as if massaging away a headache. Jerry saw her and watched her a second before cautiously talking to her.

"Are you okay, Dr. Weaver?" Jerry asked.

Kerry immediately popped up. "I'm fine. Thank you, Jerry."

"Good..." He was still speaking carefully. "...because someone's here to see you." Jerry pointed to chairs and Kerry looked over in the direction he pointed. A very apprehensive and reserved Alderman Bright stood up and starred at her from across the room.

---------------

"And what is the purpose of the Metyrapone Test?" asked Elizabeth to her very young and exuberant med-students. There were a total of five of them, but none of them knew the answer. All you could hear were small 'uhs' and 'ums,' so Elizabeth answered for them. "It makes sure the body is producing enough cortisol, which is a hormone produced where?"

Again no one knew, so Elizabeth gave them a hint. "It's a gland." She was getting annoyed. Surely they would know once she told them it was a gland, but they still didn't know. "The adrenal gland."

She was being very cold to the students and to everyone this past week, actually. She hadn't heard from or seen Robert once since they're little exhibition down the road last Saturday...which was what she wanted. She was glad he had enough sense not to bother her anymore. She probably wouldn't see him again...which was a good thing.

Funny. She found herself becoming easily agitated this week. If the ER paged her and the patient didn't need surgery, she got mad. If radiology was taking too long, she got mad. If a nurse didn't get something to her fast enough, she got mad. Even if Ella dropped her macaroni and cheese on the floor, she got mad.

Just then, her pager went off. It was the ER...again. "I'm being paged," she said to her students. They just looked at one another, as she started to walk away from them to the elevator.

One student felt the courage to pipe up before she left completely. "Well, what are we supposed to do in the meantime?"

"I don't care. Just don't kill anyone," she replied coldly without stopping, her back to them all.

---------------

Kerry walked over to Alderman Bright immediately. He wore a bashful expression. When she was standing in front of him, she didn't say anything. She was furious at his very being there, but she didn't want to appear that way in front of everyone.

"Is there somewhere we can talk?" he asked her quietly.

Kerry just turned around and headed for Exam Room One. Jonathan followed. Thankfully, there was no one in Exam Room One and they walked in. It took all of Kerry's might not to slam the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?!" Kerry asked. She wasn't yelling, yet. But, she was close to it.

"I'm sorry, Kerry." And for once, he looked it. "I didn't want to come here again and bother you. I really didn't. But I got desperate. My job isn't all fun and games, either, you know." He put a strong emphasis on 'my job.'

"I...I can't do this anymore, Jonathan. I'm juggling too much. I can't handle this right now." Kerry was pleading with him, physically shaking and her voice was trembling. She was on the verge of tears. She was beyond tears.

"I know. I know." He put his hands on her shoulders to try and comfort her, but she jerked away.

"No, you don't know!" she yelled. She then composed herself and spoke quieter, but with fury in her voice. "You have no idea what you've put me through! The stress and the fear and the lying and the cheating and the indecency of it all is beyond anything I could have ever comprehended doing in my life. What...what is wrong with you? How can you live like this?"

"I know!" he yelled back. This was the first time she had ever heard him raise his voice. A couple of people walking by the closed door jerked they're heads as they walked past. They just kept walking, though. It wasn't the first time anyone had heard screaming in this place. It was pretty common.

"Look," he continued; his voice lowered. "This is completely different. I don't need you to do anything wrong this time." He paused before letting her know why he was there in the first place. "I'm being sued."

Kerry just made an exasperated expression of confusion. "What?...What does that have anything to do with me?"

"I'm being sued for sexual harassment by this woman from the office. Nobody there knows I'm gay, but it looks like it'll all come out in this trial. My lawyer thinks it's the only way we can win. I need you-" He stopped himself and chose his words differently. "I'm asking you to please come testify on my behalf."

Kerry just stared at him disgusted. "Did you?" she asked.

"Did I what?"

"Sexually harass this woman?" How could he be this ignorant?

"No, of course not!"

"So, what? Because I'm gay, that's supposed to make you look better, too, or something?"

"No, it's just...well, I don't know. Look, you're my doctor. You're a woman. You just have to get up there on the stand; tell them I never sexually harassed you, which is not a lie, and then get off. It's that simple. I'm not asking you to lie or do anything dishonest, okay?!"

"Well, you know, Jonathan, they're probably going to ask me questions. They're going to ask me if I'm gay."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, but what if they ask me things that will lead to my having to tell them the truth about you and Keith and Scott. This isn't a good idea, Jonathan."

"I'll make sure they don't. They can only ask things pertaining to this case. That stuff has nothing to do with this."

There was a long pause before Kerry said anything else. She looked up into his eyes coldly before stating quite clearly and to the point, "Do I have a choice in this?"

---------------

The elevator doors opened on the first floor and Elizabeth stepped off. The first person she spotted was Abby strolling by.

"Abby?"

Abby stopped and turned around to face Elizabeth, her eyebrows raised.

Elizabeth continued. "Do you know who paged me?"

"I'm not sure. Sorry." Abby kept walking.

Elizabeth went up to the front desk.

"Jerry, who paged me?" she asked shortly. She was getting mad...again. Abby was the head nurse and she didn't know what was going on. If they were going to page her all the time, the least they could do is be ready for her when she got there.

"Umm, I don't really know," said Jerry.

"Fine. That's typical. Does anybody know anything around here? If you don't know what the hell you're doing, please don't call me down here to try and straighten you all out. I've got enough to worry about upstairs. Maybe you don't have anything to do, but I don't have time to be standing around waiting for you people to get your bloody act together."

Jerry was slightly taken aback by her little outburst. "We've been a little shorthanded, lately."

"I know! Well, that's not my fault, is it? If Kerry wants to parade her power around firing whoever she damn well pleases, it better not affect me, 'cause..." She broke off. She was emotional. She didn't really know what to say next. Jerry just stared at her. "Where is Kerry anyway?" asked Elizabeth. "Is she down here?"

"She's in Exam Room One." At that, Elizabeth zoomed away in that direction. "But, I wouldn't..." Jerry tried to stop her, but she was gone before he could get the words out.

Elizabeth got to the door of Exam Room One almost instantly, put her hand on the doorknob and was about to turn it when she heard something that made her stop.

"...They're going to ask me if I'm gay."

"Is that a problem?"

"No, but what if they ask me things that will lead to my having to tell them the truth about you and Keith and Scott? This isn't a good idea, Jonathan."

Elizabeth didn't know what she was thinking, but she decided to listen in for a while and not barge in to interrupt just yet.

"I'll make sure they don't. They can only ask things pertaining to this case. That stuff has nothing to do with this."

Just then some stray worker passed by Elizabeth and acknowledged her. "Dr. Corday," the worker said pleasantly in greeting. Elizabeth immediately pulled her head away from the door and her hand away from the knob. She nodded and smiled politely at the worker until she went away. She immediately continued listening.

"Do I have a choice in this?" asked Kerry. Elizabeth recognized that voice, but she wasn't too sure of the male voice.

There was a long pause before the male voice answered, "No," he said clearly, but then backed off. "I mean yes...oh, gosh, Kerry, I don't know. Look, I'm not threatening you, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you to refuse."

"Why?"

"Because if you do, they'll wonder why."

"I'll just tell them I was too busy, which I am too busy."

"But, it would still make you uncooperative and I don't think my lawyer or my associates would want me to keep funding a hospital that was uncooperative. That's not me threatening. That's just the facts, Kerry. This was all my lawyer's idea to get you in on this. I told her no, but she wouldn't listen."

Elizabeth knew she shouldn't be eavesdropping, but she didn't really care right now.

"Jonathan," spoke Kerry warningly, "I have a bad feeling about this. They're gonna find out I gave you medicine without documenting it. They're gonna want your records. They're gonna ask me what I treated you for. You can't tell me I'm not going to have to lie on that stand."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped and eyes widened. Was she hearing this correctly?

The Alderman didn't respond. He knew Kerry had a point. Kerry just continued. "And what if they ask about Keith's death? They probably will, since he worked with you. I can't tell them I gave him that penicillin that killed him can I? And what about Scott? If they ask me if I treated anyone else from your office, I'll have to lie and tell them no.

Elizabeth was shocked. Was she hearing all this correctly? She looked around, wondering if anybody else possibly knew what had been going on. Kerry had been secretly administering medicines to at least three people it sounded like. Who knew how many, really?

Kerry continued, getting mad. "No...no, Jonathan, I can't. I can't do it. I don't give a damn what you do. I could care less if you help fund this hospital. I could care less about my job. I could care less about anything! I won't do it anymore!" At that Kerry stormed out the door. Elizabeth jerked back suddenly as the door almost hit her in the face. Almost immediately, Kerry spotted Elizabeth and knew Elizabeth had heard everything.

"Elizabeth," stated Kerry with utter fear in her voice.

"Kerry," stated Elizabeth with utter loathing in her voice.

"We should talk," Kerry said nervously.

"Oh, yes, we should."

"Shall we go to my office?"

"After you."

---------------

Elizabeth shut the office door behind them both. "I know this looks bad, Elizabeth, but-"

"Don't give me any excuses, Kerry," said Elizabeth arrogantly. "It's too late for that now. You've been caught."

Kerry didn't respond. She just stared at Dr. Corday.

"I really don't think there's anything for us to talk about, Kerry. You've obviously gotten yourself in this little predicament and now you have no way out. I know what you've been doing. Did you think you wouldn't get found out eventually?"

"Elizabeth, I beg you-"

"Oh, is the all powerful, mighty Weaver begging now?" Elizabeth had no sympathy. She always despised Kerry and now she had put the hospital at risk. "You got yourself tangled in this web and now you expect me not to say anything and just get tangled along with you in it? Did you ever actually think I would care about what happens to you?"

"Elizabeth-"

"Don't say my name."

"If this gets out, it could ruin the hospital."

"And if it doesn't get out, it could still ruin the hospital. The only difference being, it doesn't ruin you."

Again, Kerry said nothing and Elizabeth continued dominating the conversation. "The real fact of the matter is that you are too selfish to care about anybody or anything, but yourself. That's why you didn't think about what this little adventure could do to the hospital. All you cared about was making yourself look good to those around you."

Elizabeth paused again before continuing. She was enjoying being able to say whatever she wanted to Kerry.

"Afterward, you became arrogant and prideful. You didn't care who you hurt, as long as it wouldn't hurt you or cause anyone to see anything bad in you. God forbid, someone see that you're not perfect. All you cared about was how you looked to other people. What would people think if the money you got for the hospital was then taken away? Other people wouldn't know the truth, so they wouldn't understand. They would automatically presume you were making some big mistake somewh-"

Elizabeth caught herself and stopped abruptly...because she was hearing what she was saying. Was she talking to Kerry or herself?

Neither Kerry, nor Elizabeth said a word for a long while. The tension and hatred between the two was thick. As Elizabeth's mind wandered back to the present, she realized something else.

"Oh my gosh. This is why you fired Robert."

Kerry didn't answer.

"His system in the ER was stopping you from dolling out drugs to all your little friends." Now Elizabeth was getting mad and raising her voice. "His system was doing a good thing and preventing people from doing exactly what you were trying to do. How could you do something so low?!"

"I don't know," she answered quietly, looking down.

Elizabeth gawked at her exasperated. Just then, a thought popped into Elizabeth's head. Not a big, thought, mind you. Just a little thought. It was simple. It was plain. Without thinking first, Elizabeth narrowed her eyes proudly at Kerry and blurted out this thought.

"Fine. I'll make you a deal." Her voice was cold and menacing. "You hire Robert back and I promise I won't say a word."

Kerry jerked up and looked at her. "I can't do that."

"Why not?" Her voice still had that deep, powerful edge to it.

"Because it would look odd. I've already offered the position to Susan."

"I don't care. Take it back. Tell her you've changed your mind."

"He's probably already found another position."

"I wouldn't bet on it."

"He'll want to put his system back."

"Well, that's not my problem. You can't seriously be thinking of still keeping up this charade after I now know about it?"

"No."

"Good, then I'm glad we agree. It's Friday, Kerry. Think it over. But realize this. If I don't hear him yelling at everyone come Monday morning...I'll blab."

With that, Elizabeth left Kerry's office in one swift movement. She shut the door behind her and just stopped in front of the closed door. She realized what she'd just done. She put her hand to her mouth and darted her eyes around in deep thought. How could she have done that? Would she stoop this low just to get someone their job back? Was she just as bad as Kerry? Just as selfish. Just as prideful. Did she also care too much about what people thought? Maybe she did. And in more ways than one.