The warm scent of cooking was what drove Luka from a state of sleepy unawareness to full consciousness. A part of him, most of him really, wanted to ignore the bright sunlight streaming through the large bay window. What he really wanted to do was just snuggle closer to Jeanie. The problem was that he had always been the sort that, once fully awake, couldn't get back to sleep. Jeanie on the other hand was still sleeping soundly, and it had taken her some time to get to sleep. The best plan, he decided, was to slip out of bed without waking her and get the morning started.
He glanced at his watch as he tiptoed out of the room. It was almost eight in the morning, a good two hours later than what they normally got up. Well, he thought, its not like we're in a rush to leave today. The plan had been to stay for at least a week, depending on how Doug responded to their confrontation. He didn't hold out a lot of hope in that respect. Doug had not seemed very receptive to their little talk, not by a long shot.
If he wants help, Luka thought as he padded down the thick carpeted stairwell, I will help him. I'm not putting up with too much nonsense though. He has to get the drinking under control. It wasn't healthy for everyone. Most of all it wasn't healthy for Doug.
He put those thoughts aside as he walked into the kitchen. The room was brightly lit by the morning sunlight, and it was filled with inviting scents. Chief among them was the smell of fresh coffee, but it was clear someone had been hard at work. Kerry was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper. She had her glasses on, the ones with the chain attached, and the overall effect was to make her look stern. On the plus side, there was an empty, clearly used plate right by her which he took as a good sign on several counts. At least she was eating, something that had worried him. It also was just such a normal thing, to find a woman sitting in a kitchen calmly drinking a cup of coffee with the warm smell of breakfast lingering through the room. " Good morning, Kerry."
" Good morning, Luka." She rustled the paper. " There's breakfast in the warming oven. Pancakes and corned beef hash, and if you're willing to wait a few minutes, there will be muffins. I can't guarantee how good they'll be since it's just a mix I found." She rustled the paper again. " According to this, tensions in the middle east may cause oil prices to rise. Our heating costs might go up."
He started to pour himself a cup of coffee, wondering just what the correct response was. She was, after knowing her for almost two months, not one for joking around much. Then again, her sense of humor did veer towards irony, sarcasm, and dry witty remarks. " Maybe I should rethink my investment plans."
She nodded. " I'm leaning towards more oil stocks. Would you pour me some more coffee?" She smirked as she held up her cup. Well, Luka decided, at least she's in a good mood. Surprising considering she didn't look like she had slept well. He had to admit, he had slept quite well himself and it certainly seemed to have improved his own mood. He helped himself to a generous helping of corned beef hash and added a few pancakes. " It looks great, Kerry."
" Thank you, " she said as she turned her attention back to the paper. " Eventually I will have to show one of you my magical secret process of adding water to pancake mix." He eyed her, and was amused to see a smile twitching on her lips. Definitely in a good mood, he decided.
Randi trotted in, wearing what was obviously one of Carter's shirts and little else. She sniffed the air, and went straight to the warming oven. " Hey Kerry, which are the good pancakes and which are the poisoned ones?"
" Its a random dispersal." Kerry said dryly from behind the newspaper. " The important question, Randi, is do you feel lucky?"
" What the hell, I'll take my chances." Randi immediately began piling pancakes onto her plate. Had it not been for the fact that both women were barely containing their smirks of amusement, Luka might have yelled at Randi for such a cheap shot. Then again,Kerry hardly seemed to need any defense. He found himself suddenly wondering what had her in such a good mood. God knows, he felt better for having gotten some sleep but the fact was that their situation hadn't noticeably improved overnight. Oh well, why spoil the day this early? Besides, Randi and Kerry got along very well. He sometimes wondered why, but chalked it up to his own ignorance. Women were simply different. Despite having very little in common as far as education, style, and personality, the women in his band were a tight, rather closed circle. He knew that had he made cracks about Kerry's sanity, not only would Kerry have left in a huff, but Randi would have torn into him for being an insensitive lout.
" Carter won't be down for a while." Randi said as she sat down to the table. " He's still pretty tired." She started pouring maple syrup onto her pancakes. " This is sort of deja vue like. I mean, gee Kerry, I kind of expect you to have a nervous breakdown. That's what happened the last time you made pancakes." This time Randi did smirk.
Kerry's eyes held a devilish glint as she lowered the paper. " I didn't get any sleep last night because of you and Carter so you might want to hush. Unless you want your Xena, Warrior Princess fantasy revealed, that is."
Luka tried not to smile as Randi arched an eyebrow. " Just what do you think you heard?" she asked dryly.
Kerry returned her attention to the newspaper. " I've heard wild monkeys in heat that made less noise. I won't even ask what the magic sword of Hercules is."
Randi was taken back, but only for a moment. " Are you adding voyeurism to your handbag of mental disorders?"
" Its not voyeurism when I can hear it from a different room. I hope you two are using condoms. " Kerry looked over the paper, " You two do know where babies come from, right?"
Randi grinned and tossed her long hair back. " Its comments like that that make me think you really need to get laid." Much to Luka's surprise, that too was a remark that Kerry tolerated with a mere wry glance. Something had her distracted, he decided, and he had a sneaking suspicion she was up to something. What exactly, he wasn't sure. He wasn't even sure that he was right. Something about the whole morning felt like a set up. You're being paranoid, he told himself.
Malucci trotted in, wearing a pair of boxers and nothing else. " Someone's made breakfast for me again? " he asked as he went straight to the oven. " Great, I'm starving!" He made a show of heaping his plate with food, a show which both Randi and Kerry enjoyed judging by their stares. The fact that Dave was clearly showing his muscular chest and abs off to the women helped quite a bit. He was only a few years younger than Carter, Luka mused, and yet it was amazing to see just what that few years meant to hormone levels. Much to Luka's amusement, Dave pulled up a chair right next to Kerry. Ever since Jeanie had suggested her theory on Dave's behavior, Luka couldn't help but see it.
" Are you feeling better, chief?" Dave asked as he started shoveling corned beef hash into his mouth. " I don't care what these people say, you can cook meals for me anytime."
" Its amazing the loyalty that opening a can will inspire." Kerry murmured from behind her newspaper. " Do you want the sports page?"
" Sure." Dave took it from her. " Why are you reading a two month old newspaper anyway?"
" I spent the last three weeks of mass world communication in the Cook County ER treating patients. I was just curious to see if I had missed anything important." Kerry said. She rustled the papers. " It looks like the president might be in trouble over having his little affair with an intern. And there's a sale at Target."
" We should go to that." Randi said. " I need more utility pants. But we better go early if we're going to beat the lines." That drew an amused chuckle from them all. After a moment they all settled back into eating or reading. Luka still couldn't quite shake the idea that something was wrong, but he pushed those thoughts aside. Stop trying to find something wrong, he chastised himself, it is possible to have a nice day. Just because it's been a long time since you were able to relax, you don't have to look for things to be wrong. He started working his way through his plate of food. Despite the fact that it made him more than a little nervous to have her cooking their meals, he had to give Kerry credit, what she was doing was not just opening cans. It was damn hard to make even a passable meal with nothing but canned food. He was tired of Chef Boyardee, and he was willing to take his chances if it meant the occasional decent meal.
After a few minutes of quiet, Carter finally made an appearance, wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms. Luka found himself feeling very overdressed in comparison to the other men, but shook it off. I don't need to prance around shirtless, he thought smugly as he watched the younger man dish up pancakes, and I look better.
Carter looked at the group assembled around the table with a quizzical expression on his face. " I know Jeanie is still asleep, but Lucy and Doug aren't upstairs." As Carter finished his short statement, Luka felt the odd sense of unease that he had been feeling coalesce into an icy ball of fear in his stomach.
Kerry lowered the paper. " Did I mention that Doug left at around four this morning? I thought he seemed suicidal so I woke Lucy up and sent her after him." She returned her attention to the paper.
They all turned to look at her. After a moment, she lowered the paper again. " What?"
" Why didn't you say anything?" Luka asked. He was stunned. It was hard to believe that Kerry would be that irresponsible. "
" Well, telling you would really defeat the purpose of letting her get a head start, now wouldn't it?" Kerry lowered the paper and eyed him, as if daring him to argue.
It wasn't going to work. He wasn't scared of her, and he sure didn't agree with her. " What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all? Why didn't you wake up the rest of us?"
" I thought you needed the sleep." Kerry retorted. " Besides, its not like you would have done anything. I woke the one person I knew that would go after him." She paused for a moment.
Luka found himself seeing red. She was right, of course. Lucy was probably the only one in the group that would have bothered. More importantly, there was no way they could just ignore the fact that Lucy had gone. Someone would have to go after the young woman, and he had no doubt that Kerry had intended just that. Going after Lucy meant going after Doug, and Luka didn't like being manipulated. " Kerry, Lucy is in no shape to be running around by herself."
Kerry's expression didn't change, but her eyes glinted with anger. " She was raped, Luka, not crippled. There's a difference. Trust me on that. I didn't make her go, she made the choice. I only woke her up. "
" Dammit!" Luka got up and stalked out. They had been played, and it made him mad. What made him feel worse was knowing that he wouldn't have even considered going after Doug if Lucy hadn't gone after him first.