Ray didn't know why he stood there. He knocked a couple times but heard no response, and yet he couldn't leave. He just stood there, waiting, maybe even hoping, but there was no response. He had just given up when Kate bounded up the stairs. "Hey." He quietly spoke.

"You okay?" Her voice was concerned.

"I'm fine. I know it's really stupidly early in the morning and I really…"

She brushed by him and opened her door. "Come on. I'll put on some coffee and we can talk, alright?" She waved him in.

Ray slunk inside the apartment. He looked and noticed the Jack from the previous night was still on the counter, as though she either didn't feel like putting it away or didn't think about it. "I'm sorry about today."

She smiled as she made her way into the kitchen. "You lost a friend today, Ray. That's enough to make anyone respond to any and everything like you did."

"I shouldn't have snapped at Morris like that though." He threw his coat on a still unpacked box.

She handed him a glass half full of Jack. "This should warm you up. And, as far as Morris, I don't blame you one bit. I'd snap at him too if he did to me what he did to you."

He sat on the couch and accepted the Jack. "Thanks." He took a sip and watched as she once again attempted to start a fire. This time, he helped. "Here. Let me." He had a fire started in less than five minutes.

"Thanks." She smiled. She noticed that he was staring deep into the fire. "A penny for your thoughts."

"Tox screens came back." Ray hesitantly stood up.

"And?"

"Traces of cocaine." She heard the anger in his voice and, despite wanting to comfort him, she held back. He faced her. "The fucked up thing is that I don't ever recall cocaine being around when I was in the band."

"I'm sorry, Ray."

"It's not your fault." He stared out the window at the sun rising over the Chicago skyline. "I still think that if I fought harder to stay in the band rather than giving up as quickly as I did, this may have never happened."

She stood silent beside him. Why is it I'm the one everyone confides in? She thought as he continued talking. She looked up and swore she saw a tear. "Look, Ray. Take some time. We can cover your shifts."

He smiled. "I don't want to stop and think about it. Who knows what I may do?"

Kate smiled back. In less than 24 hours, she felt she had met someone that could become nothing less than her best friend.

"Oh my God!" Abby laughed as she saw Morris come in. "What the hell is this, Morris?"

Morris ran his hands through his out of control spiked hair. "I'm trying to be cool, don't you know, hon?"

"Well, it isn't cool to call Dr. Abby Lockhart 'hon', don't you know?" Abby smirked back as she grabbed a chart.

"Alright. I got it." Morris held his hands up in surrender. He made his way to the staff lounge where Ray was pouring himself a cup of coffee. "So, what do you think, Barnett?"

Ray nearly over poured the coffee in his cup as he coughed a laugh. "What the…?"

"Hey. The chicks love the spiked hair and Rolling Stones tee shirt, man." He playfully punched Ray's shoulder. "But, you already knew that."

"Yeah, of course." Ray tried to sound like he wasn't amused by Morris's attempt to be cool. "Sunglasses inside. Not cool, Morris." Morris took them off and Ray could no longer contain his laughter. "What the hell?"

Morris looked around sheepishly before quietly responding. "I didn't know how to do the eyeliner right."

Ray couldn't contain his laughter. "Eyeliner is only cool if you're a punk rocker or Ozzy Osbourne. Not as the Chief Resident."

"Great. Now Kate's going to think I'm a mess up, man." Morris sounded like he wanted to cry.

"Nah. It's not…it's, uh. Hang on. Don't go anywhere!" Ray hooted. He found Kate talking to Luka about a patient. "Um, Kate. We have an emergency."

"This is an ER, Ray. We're loaded with emergencies. It can wait." Kate seemed nonchalant.

"No. Seriously. I think we need you to come and check this out."

She turned to face him to tell him off, but seeing the dancing of his eyes, she knew that he was only using the word 'emergency' as a minor technicality. She faced Luka. "Will you pardon us, Dr. Kovac?"

"Certainly." Luka smiled and headed to the Admit Desk.

As soon as Luka was out of earshot, Kate looked at Ray. "Okay, Ray. What's this about?"

He shuffled her in to the Staff lounge. "This."

"Morris?"

Morris turned around and gasped in horror as he quickly put his sunglasses back on. "Yeah, babe. What do you want?" He pointed at her as he had seen Ray do many times before.

"Spiked hair." Kate smiled.

"Yeah. You like it?" Morris coughed. "I mean, yeah babe. Thought I'd take a bit of a risk. That's what us cool guys do."

Ray hid his mouth in his hands, hoping it would keep him from laughing too loud.

"And, look." Morris rolled up the sleeve of his right bicep. "A tattoo."

"Lemme see that." Ray walked over. "A teddy bear? You get a tattoo and it's of a teddy bear?"

"Dude, it's not real. At least not yet." Morris tried to keep his voice low.

"At least get a real tattoo when you do get one. Teddy bears? Not cool." Ray laughed.

Kate inspected the tattoo. "Hmm. It works for you, Morris." She studied him. "Take off your sunglasses."

Ray coughed a laugh and imagined Morris's eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets. Morris looked at Ray and all Ray could do was shake his head. "I can't. Uh, hangover. Bar fight because I was hung over and I got…"

Kate reached up and removed the sunglasses. "Oh. My. God!" She laughed. "What the hell is it?"

"Eyeliner." Morris mumbled. "I thought all the cool guys wore it."

Kate stole a glance at Ray and smiled. "They do."

"Cool." Morris tucked the sunglasses into his lab coat and walked out the door.

"You are too cruel." Ray softly laughed as he hugged Kate.

"I know." She looked at him. "You okay now?"

Ray nodded. He resisted leaning down and kissing her. "Yeah. That talk this morning helped. Thanks, Kate."

"Anytime." She leaned in and kissed his lips softly. "Anytime you need me, you know where to find me." She walked off, leaving Ray standing there, smiling.