Chapter 6

After Kerry and Kim left the hospital…

Susan turned to go back inside, but Elizabeth stayed, staring after a car which had left moments before. Susan, after realizing the surgeon wasn't coming with her, turned around and frowned. "Coming?" She asked, shoving her hands into her pockets. She couldn't help but feel something towards this poor, sad woman. She just looked so beautiful standing there, the wind, which bounced off the walls of the ambulance dock, blowing her reddish curls. Her trim figure was tempting, that skirt and those shoes…but no. Susan had given that up?

Or had she?

"Yeah, I'm coming." Elizabeth seemed to snap out of her trance.

"Are you okay, Dr. Corday?" Susan asked, upon seeing Elizabeth's sullen face when she turned.

"I'm fine." Elizabeth seemed to brush her off. Why couldn't Elizabeth take her seriously for once?

"You're sure?' Susan persisted, but Elizabeth just nodded and walked past Susan, leaving her standing in the middle of the ambulance bay, feeling completely rejected and alone. But why? It wasn't as if she had expected anything from Elizabeth, the one who was struggling to keep her new marriage going and deal with her new husband's upcoming death. Add in a daughter and you would have no room for another side romance. Not that she had expected Elizabeth to be that way anyway.

Susan, defeated, turned and went back in to the ER, ready to face whatever case awaited her.

When Kerry finally decided to get up she felt rested for the first time in days. Not only did she feel fully awake, but she felt Kim beside her, and that was her motivation for getting up and getting out of bed. Grabbing her cane, Kerry went to the bathroom, and then headed in to the kitchen to make some coffee and put together some breakfast stuff she had sitting around. Once the coffee filtered through she poured a cup, putting extra sugar and a bit of milk in, (just the way Kim liked it) and crept back to her room. Looking in she found Kim partially awake.

"Hey there stranger." Kim yawned, a sleepy smile ensuing. She pushed herself up in to a sitting position and took the proffered cup of coffee Kerry handed her.

"Hey there." Kerry kissed her and then sat down on the side of the bed. She pushed Kim's shirt up, which caused Kim to stop sipping her coffee.

"What are you doing?" Kim asked, a bit of laughter in the question.

"I'm making sure everything's okay." Kerry looked up at her and smiled, as she felt around, poking and prodding and staring at Kim's stomach, checking to see if there was change. It seemed to be looking better.

"Well am I okay, Doctor? Will I survive?" Kim asked looking very concerned (despite the fact she was being sarcastic).

Kerry looked up at her as she groped about Kim's stomach and gave her a sarcastic eye roll. She then focused on examining Kim's stitches which would come out in a few days. "I thought you went to San Francisco for a new job." Kerry frowned, remembering back to their previous conversation, right before Kim had vanished from her life.

"They hired another psychiatrist. I got turned down; I guess it took me too long to take the job." Kim shrugged, sipping her coffee and staring out Kerry's window.

"So where have you been working?" Kerry asked, still examining her.

"I haven't." Kim replied into her coffee cup, trying to look like it didn't matter.

Kerry looked up. "What?"

"I haven't been working. Lori moved in with me and pays for half the rent and I still get that money from County. It's not so bad." Kim said nonchalantly.

"Not so bad…honey you're an amazing psychiatrist. I'm talking to Robert today and see if there isn't a spot still open."

"No, Kerry, I don't really want to work at County." Kim shook her head.

"Kim, please. You need to be practicing. Really. And Robert has changed, a lot." Kerry tilted her head, a begging look on her face. "Please."

Kim shook her head and laughed. "No, Kerry."

"Please." Kerry tried again. "Oh come on, I loved working with you, and you were always really good…please."

Kim gave her a twisted look, one with seriousness wound into her laughter. She took a deep breath and sighed. "Talk to him, but I bet he won't let me have my spot back in the psych ward."

"I bet he will." Kerry grinned, finished with her examine. She leaned forward and kissed Kim. "I'd better get a move on. I have to be there in less than an hour. You're sure you're okay?" Kerry asked, looking at the clock. She felt like she was a slave to the clock, it seemed to own her life. Sometimes she wished she could throw it out the window. My how time flies…

"I'll be fine, Kerry. I'll lie in bed watching infomercials, cartoons, and soaps all day. Don't worry about it."

"What about if you get hungry?" Kerry hadn't thought about food.

"I'll order something."

"Can you get up?" Kerry asked.

"I think I'll manage."

"I'll come home at lunch time."

"No, you don't have to."

"I want to."

"Well fine." Kim stuck out her tongue and received Kerry's mouth over her own.

"Fine. I'll call when I get off."

The next morning Susan came in with a hangover, as she had many, many times before. The night before Abby had noticed Susan wasn't her chipper self, so she asked if she wanted to go clubbing. Susan had agreed and had drowned her sorrows in lots of alcohol and she faintly remembered kissing someone…or several people. Of course it hadn't meant anything, not really. In fact, if she remembered correctly Abby and she had shared a rather passionate kiss after several rounds.

Well enough about the night before, right now she was in the ER and she needed to function as an ER doctor. After sipping some of Deb's tea her massive headache turned into a slight headache. She grabbed several clipboards and headed out to do her rounds. When she returned, after getting word that a possible GSW was on its way, she found that Kerry Weaver had arrived and looked like she was glowing. It was amazing what the return of this Kim Legaspi did to her. Susan wished that she had someone who made her feel that way.

"Susan, are you on this?" Kerry asked, pulling on a trauma gown in preparation for the GSW.

"Yeah." Susan followed suit and then walked with Kerry out to the ambulance bay to meet the new arrival. Once the ambulance doors were opened Susan and Kerry were on. They performed all necessary procedures, getting vitals, stats, everything they needed to know. They wheeled the man who had been shot twice in to a waiting trauma room and began undressing him, trying to find the entry and exit wounds while also keeping him alive.

"We need Corday in here!" Kerry called, as she rushed to treat a bullet hole. A nurse nodded and excused herself only to come back three seconds later with Elizabeth right behind. Elizabeth was already prepped and ready to go and she got right to work, yelling out commands and working her surgical magic on the man.

Susan could feel Elizabeth's body pressed up beside her own. She felt herself blushing at the contact, and moved to the patients head and took over squeezing the air into his lungs. As Elizabeth worked she reached across the table, her hand grazing Susan's breast. She wondered if Elizabeth had noticed her hardened nipple. She sure hoped not.

After at least a half hour of trying to revive the man, rapid beeping ringing in everyone's ears, and some scares, his vitals came back. His heart began to beat again and he was able to breath on his own. Elizabeth stood back, relieved and nodded at Kerry. "We got him back." She announced, pulling off her gloves and tossing them on to the ground and then put her trauma gown in a bin.

Susan, stood back and took off her own gloves, finding that she was no longer needed. She untied her trauma gown and tossed it where Elizabeth had just placed her own and then followed her in to the hallway. "Good save, Dr. Corday." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Thanks, it was no big deal. The bullet narrowly missed doing any severe damage." Elizabeth looked pleased with herself and even gave Susan a smile, something that seemed rare these days.

"Hey, are you off soon?" Susan asked.

"I have my lunch break in thirty minutes." Elizabeth responded without looking up from the chart she was now writing in.

"Do you want to go somewhere…grab a bite to eat?" Susan suggested, feeling rather bashful at the moment, especially since her intent was not as innocent as her question.

"I have to get Ella from the nursery, I told them I would get her for lunch." Elizabeth continued to write.

"That's okay, she can come along." Susan loved Ella. She wished she could have her own kids, but that was no longer a possibility, or so it seemed.

Elizabeth looked up, eyeing Susan. "Where?"

"Where what?" Susan asked, confused momentarily.

"Where do you want to go?" Elizabeth gave her a reassuring smile. To tell the truth, she hadn't been asked out on a lunch date by a colleague in ages. She felt special again.

"Oh I don't know. You name the place." Susan shrugged, glad Elizabeth had taken her up on the offer instead of brushing her off like she had the night before.

"Does Doc Magoo's sound okay? I'm back on an hour after I get off." Elizabeth laughed. It would be good to get her mind off of Mark for awhile. She needed to not think about him, plus she was mad at him. Mad at the way he was taking all of this.

"Sounds perfect." Susan smiled. "I'll come and find you in a half hour."

"Or you could meet me at the nursery." They found themselves standing dangerously close, and smiling at one another. Just as Susan was about agree, Kerry walked out of the trauma room, smiling. The smile wavered momentarily when she saw Elizabeth and Susan standing so close to one another, but she decided not to notice. They weren't like that anyway, they were probably just talking about the patient.

"Nice work, Elizabeth." Kerry smiled and Elizabeth nodded, taking the compliment. Kerry got the hint that she had interrupted something and moved on, her smile seeming to be permanent today.

"The nursery in thirty minutes sounds great. I'll see you there." Susan, wanting to catch up and talk to Kerry, said quickly.

"Great." Elizabeth nodded and then both turned to leave.

Susan caught up to Kerry and walked beside her. "How is Kim doing? I didn't get to ask when you got in."

"Oh she's doing fine. I checked her out this morning and all the bruising seems to be going away and the wounds are healing as they should be." Kerry turned and smiled at Susan as she sat a file down on the admit desktop. She got on to a computer and began typing.

"Well that's great, Kerry." Susan smiled.

"So what was that conversation with Dr. Corday about?" Kerry asked, staring intently at the computer monitor in front of her. She was curious to know, but didn't want to appear like she was that intrigued.

"Oh, nothing." Susan waved it off. "We're going out to lunch. She looked pretty down the other day so I thought I'd try and cheer her up."

"Yeah, yeah Mark's really got her down. He's really sick I hear." Kerry kept her eyes focused on the screen.

"He is. It's so sad." Susan looked down. "Well, I'd better help to clear the board."

"Yeah, there's a guy in examine four that cut his finger off, you could maybe go check on him." Kerry smiled, grabbing the chart and handing it to Susan.

"Thanks." Susan nodded, taking the chart unenthusiastically from Kerry.

"Oh and Susan, would you mind watching the ER for a moment when you get back. I have a meeting with Dr. Romano."

"Whatever you need Kerry." Susan smiled and then disappeared into the ER.

TBC...hehe.