Chapter 2- Ray

I skidded into the ambulance bay outside of County hospital, Chicago. I was late -again. I walked in and gave Frank a grin, before practically running to the Doctor's Lounge. I hurried to get out of my parka, which only served to get me more tangled up. Eventually I got free, shoved it in my locker, and donned my white lab coat. I turned and saw Kerry Weaver standing behind me, tapping her foot.

"Shit!" I said, as she'd made me jump. "I mean... um..."

"You're late Barnett, third time this week! And you've only had four shifts. This is unacceptable."

"Look, I'm really, really sorry," I said, giving her my best I-know-I'm-bad-but-look-how-sweet-I-can-be-smile. She didn't looked amused. "Sorry," I mumbled.

She sighed, "Barnett, do you want to be a doctor? Because if you don't, you know where the door is."

"Of course I want to be a doctor! I mean, I've always wanted to be a doctor, I love working here!"

"Then start turning up, on time, otherwise you'll have to pray for a record deal with that band of yours." She turned and left the room, leaving me blinking behind her.

"Shit," I said again.

I returned to the Doctor's Lounge that evening, after a busy shift. But in the ER every shift was busy. I wandered in, wanting to grab a coffee and then head home when I saw my room-mate, Neela Rasgotra. She was wearing her standard lab coat, and was just putting her stethoscope around her neck.

"Hey Neela," I said, heading to my locker, suddenly a thought occurred to me, "Hey, where've you been, I haven't seen you in a while, got a new boyfriend or something?" I said with a laugh.

She glared at me, "No. I've been staying at Abby's, for some reason I didn't feel comfortable trying to sleep while you had sex with god-knows-who at god-knows-what-hour!"

I took a step back, I really hadn't been expecting that. I knew that I'd had a few girls over, but I didn't realise she'd been that annoyed. "Gee, I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm looking for another place anyway."

"Neela, come on, it isn't that bad is it? Let's just talk about it and we'll, you know, reach a compromise or whatever." I really liked having Neela as a roomie, sure we were polar opposites but we got on well enough and shared the same kind of humour. Hell, I'd even persuaded her into an admiration -if not like- of rock music. I began to think I might miss her if she moved out. "I'd miss you."

She frowned, "You? Would miss me? Aren't I just cramping your style?"

"No, who else would I watch poker with?"

She sighed, and I could see her mellowing out, "Maybe we could give it one last try."

"Thank you," I said, walking over to her and kissing her forehead, "See you later, Roomie."


A/N Hey, this was a short one too, I know! But it is still the introduction, I just wanted to show you the layout of following chapters (i.e. one from Neela, one from Ray) Hope you liked anyway. Proper plot to follow, after reviews anyway... hopefully!