Title: Bitter Enemies

Chapter: 9

Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: None.

Disclaimer: ER or anything associated with it does not belong to me.

This chapter is in Abby's point of view.

Authors Notes at the end.

When did a day off get to be so boring? Probably when I stopped having anyone to share my day off with. I am glad that Neela is off soon, it will be nice to have someone to actually talk to. All I did today was clean the apartment, go grocery shopping, and watch soap operas. I hate soap operas because the people on them never have a day off without someone to share it with.

I hear a knock on the door and get up off the couch to answer it. Maybe Neela forgot her key. It is about time for her to get home.

"Forgot your key?" I ask as I answer the door.

"Thinking of giving me a key already?" Ray replies, smiling.

They make peepholes for a reason. Note to self: check peephole before answering the door next time.

"What do you want Ray?" I know what he wants, so why do I even bother asking?

He surprises me by pulling a bouquet of wildflowers from behind his back and handing them to me. I really hate flowers. They just die anyway. But, somehow, the thought of Ray buying them for me wins me over.

I offer him a small smile and open the door wider for him to come in. I head into the kitchen to put the flowers in water and he follows me and watches me finish my task.

When I finish, I turn around and look him in the eye.

"So?" I ask.

"I just wanted to talk to you." There's that sweet smile of his. I wish he wouldn't do that, it makes me forget why I got mad at him in the first place.

I turn around and head towards the couch. Might as well get comfortable for this. He follows me and sits down next to me.

He sighs. And turns to face me. "Look, I could tell you that I am sorry for what happened yesterday, but that would not be the truth."

Interesting. This is definitely not what I thought he would say.

"How can I apologize for something that wasn't entirely my fault. I didn't know that Dr. Carter would walk in on us, and besides I'm not sorry that it even happened. I want everyone to know how I feel about you."

How he feels about me? Ok, this is gonna be good.

"And how do you feel about me?" I ask, looking intently at the remote control on the coffee table.

"Abby. Look at me." He says putting his finger under my chin and guiding my eyes to meet his. "I wasn't joking around when I told you that I had a crush on you. I do. I'm fascinated by you and I want to get to know you better."

Wow. I didn't expect that one coming. Especially from a guy like Ray.

Now it is my turn to sigh and return a smile. I was way too hard on him. I wasn't ever really mad at him. How could I be, he didn't do anything wrong. What I was really mad at was Carter walking in on us. I just was not ready for County, in general, to find out about us.

I scoot closer to him on the couch and bite my lower lip.

He laughs at me and I give him a shocked look.

"I knew you couldn't stay mad at me forever. No one can resist Ray Barnett's charm."

I punch him in the arm and try to stand up, but he grabs my waste and pulls me down on his lap.

"The flowers were a nice touch, though, weren't they?" He mumbles against my neck.

I might as well fill him on my likes and dislikes now.

"Ray, I hate flowers. They always die."

He quits kissing my neck and looks at my very strangely. "You're an odd one, Lockhart."

"There is a lot of things you don't know about me." I state matter-of-factly.

Instead of scaring him off, I think he takes it as more of a challenge.

"I guess I'll just have to learn then, won't I." He brings his lips to mine and whispers against them, "Like starting with how you take your coffee in the morning."

I break the kiss and pull away from him.

"What?" He asks confused.

"You're not staying over."

"Why not?" He gives me his best smile and scoots closer to me. He can be so persuasive sometimes.

"Because..."

He reaches under my shirt and starts to caress my back. Wow. That feels really good. His fingers reach up farther and with one quick move he undoes my bra. Now I feel his lips on my collarbone and suddenly I can't remember what it was that I was saying. I'm not even sure what we were even talking about before. All well. Must have not been too important.

I lean back on the couch and pull him down on top of me. His hands are now pulling up my shirt and removing my bra.

We both must have been so engrossed in what we were doing that we didn't hear the door open, nor did we hear Neela make her way into the kitchen. But, we did hear her reaction when she saw us.

"Oh!" Neela exclaims. "Can't you do that in your bedroom?"

Ray sits up quickly with a surprised look on his face. I must have been too stunned to do anything because he quickly pulls my shirt down to cover up my exposed chest.

"Neela, hi." Ray jumps off the couch and smiles at her.

"So I take it that I don't need to screen your calls anymore." Neela says to me, ignoring Ray.

"Ha!" Ray says turning around to look at me. "I knew you weren't asleep."

"You're a real genius, Ray." Neela smirks walking back into the kitchen. "Considering that it was only 8 o'clock when you called."

By this time I have composed myself as much as possible, which isn't much considering that I am not sure where my bra is. I stand up and follow Neela into the kitchen, ignoring Ray as well.

"Sorry." I say trying to smile at Neela. I really do want to be more considerate of her living here. "I didn't mean for that to happen. I'll try to be more careful next time."

"It's okay." She says returning my smile.

"So there is going to be a next time, huh?" Ray says following me into the kitchen.

Neela and I both turn and glare at him.

"What?" He asks, his cocky smile returning to his face.

Why is he only sweet when we are alone. No wonder Neela can't understand what I see in him.

He comes over to me and wraps his arm around my waist. "Do you want to go get some dinner?"

"Sure." I say returning his smile.

"Do you want to come Neela?" He asks.

"No thanks. I've seen enough for tonight." Neela says heading over to sit on the couch.

"Come on, Ray will buy." I say hoping to convince her.

"It's okay. I really am tired. I just want to sit on the couch and veg out." She collapses on the couch and reaches for the remote control.

"Ok, I'll bring you something back."

"Thanks." She smiles gratefully at me. I can tell that she is really tired and wouldn't want to cook anything.

"Ready?" Ray asks me heading towards the door.

"Hang on, I'm missing something." I mumble looking around for my missing bra.

"Looking for this?" Neela reaches behind the couch cushion and pulls out my missing bra.

"Thanks." I snatch it from her grasp as my cheeks go red. I hurry into the bedroom and get myself composed and then join Ray at the door.

"Bye, Neela."

"This is a nice restaurant. I've never been here before." I glance around the place. "It's kinda cozy."

"I love this place." Ray says. "I discovered it a couple of months ago and now I come here whenever I can. They have the best homemade pie."

"Ooh, I love pie."

"Really? Me too." He smiles at me and reaches for my hand.

I just don't understand why he has to cover up this side of him when others are around. He tries so hard to be a jerk sometimes.

"Abby." He pulls me away from my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I turn to look at him.

"I just wanted to tell you that I am sorry for what I said to you in the ambulance bay the other day."

I just look at him confused.

"You know, about you still having feelings for Dr. Carter." He explains.

Oh. That. I can't blame him for saying it. I guess that is how it appeared.

"It's okay. You don't understand the situation, how could you? But, don't worry. I am over him. I really have moved past it and I have gotten on with my life."

"I know. That's what Susan said."

"What?" Did I hear that right? "You talked to Susan about me?"

He stops eating and looks up at me with a scared look on his face. That's right buddy. You better be scared. I don't appreciate people talking about me behind my back.

"Now don't get mad. I asked Susan privately about your relationship with Dr. Carter. I just needed to know what was going on."

I must still look really mad because he hurry and adds,

"I only did it because I care about you and I wanted to understand you better."

I can't blame him for what he did. I might have done the exact same thing. I take a deep breath and give him a small smile.

"It's okay. I'm not mad at you, though you should have talked to me about it. Not Susan. But, considering that I wasn't talking to you at the time, I don't blame you."

He looks really relieved and I can't help but laugh.

"It's Susan that I am mad at."

Now he looks worried again.

"She is supposed to be my best friend. She'll pay for this one."

Sorry it took me so long to post this one. I wrotea differentfic instead of writing this chapter. Anyway, I hoped you like this and let me know if you want more. Also, if you have any ideas you would like to see in this story, let me know. I'm always open to suggestions. As always, thanks ahead of time for your reviews!