AN: Sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter written. Thanks to everyone who reviewed or added the story to their alerts/favourite list. Please R&R.

Disclaimer: I don't own ER or the characters only Dr Paige Staker.

There She Goes

Chapter 3 - Night Fever

Paige groaned loudly as her cell phone began to vibrate. It had been two months since her first day at County and she was finally catching up on some sleep. She propped herself up on her elbows and glanced at her alarm clock. "2.00am" She grabbed her cell and flipped it open.

"Hello." She unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn.

"Paige? It's Carter." He began.

"What?!" She spat more angrily than she intended.

"One of the residents is sick and we could really use an extra pair of hands down here, please?" He begged.

"What? Now?" She whined, sitting up properly in bed, rubbing her tired eyes.

"yes. Come on you know I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate." He pleaded with her over the phone.

"I hate you." Paige stated simply with another yawn.

"Is the a yes with that 'I hate you'?" He asked hopefully.

She sighed loudly and gave in. "Well it's not like I'm going to leave you stranded."

"Paige, thank-you. I'll make it up to you, I promise." He grinned down the phone.

"I'll hold you to that." She muttered as she hung up the phone.

Half an hour later Paige arrived at the hospital and found Carter waiting for her in the ambulance bay.

"Hey." He flashed her a charming smile.

"I thought you said we were busy." She raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"Hi Carter, how are you this fine morning?" He mocked.

"Carter I'm not in the mood for jokes." She told him as they headed inside.

"It was busy, things have calmed down a bit now. But there's still a lot of patients." He informed her.

"Okay." She ran a hand through her hair which was straight, unlike it's normal tousled state. "I need a shit load of coffee and some make-up from my locker." The pair headed for the Doctor's Lounge.

"Great outfit by the way." Carter smirked. "Totally suitable work attire." He finished sarcastically.

She was dressed in a white tank top, which Carter noted was VERY see through, a denim pencil skirt which stopped above her knees, a black leather jacket and a pair of black pumps. Her softly tanned legs were exposed and her blondey-brown hair was longer than Carter had ever seen it.

"Well if you hadn't called me in I was going to iron trousers or a skirt in the morning. Thanks to you I didn't have time." She snapped as she tossed her leather jacket and her bag in her locker, trading it for her lab coat and pulled out a small make-up bag. "Do me a favour and stick on some coffee. Please." She added as an afterthought.

Carter busied himself making a pot of coffee. "Your hair looks longer. It's pretty." He commented. "Thanks, it is longer. I prefer it longer." She managed a smile at his complement. She could never stay mad at Carter that long.

"Which other attending is on tonight?" She asked as she gently rubbed a tinted moisturiser on her face.

"Brenner." He replied as he poured her a large cup of coffee in he Harry Potter mug.

"Oh no! Brenner hates me." She frowned, hoping Morris had been the other attending on that night.

"How do you take your coffee?"

"Milky, three sugars." She swiftly applied black mascara to her long eyelashes.

"So not only do you need a caffeine boost but a sugar boost as well." He quipped as he stirred the sugar into her cup.

"Carter you know I'm severely lacking sleep at the moment, this is the only way I'll stay awake." She brushed her long fringe out of her eyes as she replaced her make-up bag in her locker and collected her stethoscope.

"Catch." Carter told her as she sat back down on the sofa and tossed something to her, which she caught. A large bar of milk chocolate. "I was saving it for later but since you're so amazing coming in when you're so tired you can have it." He told her sincerely.

"How about we share it?" She asked and patted the seat on the sofa next to her.

Carter sat down beside her and placed her coffee on the table in front of them as Paige broke into the chocolate bar. She put the chocolate in his lap and retrieved her coffee, taking a long sip. She slipped her black pumps off her feet, curling up on the sofa and resting her head on Carter's shoulder. He stole a sip of her coffee and passed her some chocolate.

"Thank-you." She grinned and bit into the chocolate enthusiastically, making him smile.

"What?" She demanded softly as she noticed Carter's expression.

"Nothing." He gave a gentle laugh and shook his head.

"No really?" She pressed, her head still resting against his shoulder.

"I like your toes." He lied and gestured to her toenails which were painted a soft sparkly pink.

She blushed. "My fingernails match." She flashed one hand in front of his face and took a long sip of coffee.

He stole the mug from her and took a sip of the hot sweet liquid before speaking. "I have a dinner, a kind of gala thing at the Carter Center next week. Come, as my date." He finished softly.

"I thought student-teacher relationships were against the rules." She stole her mug back.

"They are. It would be a friend date, I want you to come. No-one else." He gazed down at her, she looked up from his shoulder.

"I'd love to." She admitted softly.

"Great." He grinned wrapping one arm around her shoulders and stealing the coffee once more with her free hand.

"And don't think you asking me is making up for dragging me out of bed tonight." She warned as she settled comfortably against his body.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He countered, rubbing his tired eyes on his arm. He took another sip of the coffee, trying to stay awake. "Hey Paige you better take this before I drink it all." He rubbed her shoulders gently but found she had already drifted off at this side.

He smiled softly as he stared down at her young peaceful face and decided to let her stay asleep pressed against his body. He couldn't begrudge her fifteen or twenty minutes of sleep he thought as he drained the mug, intending to stay awake himself to wake her if there was an emergency. However things didn't go to plan as he also fell asleep, arms wrapped around Paige.

* * *

After two patients had crashed and stabilised an annoyed Simon Brenner began to look for Carter. "Haleh I don't suppose you know where Dr Carter is?" He asked slumping against the desk, rubbing his weary eyes.

"Last I saw of him he was headed to the lounge with Dr Staker." She replied.

"Thanks Haleh." He flashed her a quick smile before heading to the lounge to yell at Carter for leaving him in the lurch to chat with his intern.

As he pushed the door open he grinned, surprised at the sight that met him. Carter and young intern Paige were curled up on thee battered old sofa, arms tangled around each others bodies. Unable to wipe the smile off his face he whipped his cell from his lab coat pocket and took a picture of the sleeping doctors. He would use it to torment Paige later because she kept messing up during his trauma's and because she just made it so easy. He smirked again and took a moment to compose himself before waking Carter.

"Simon?" He croaked, his throat dry.

"Hi mate you fell asleep and we had a couple of crashers, I could do with all hands on deck." Brenner whispered.

"Yeah sorry. I'm coming." He gently slid into a seating position, careful not to wake Paige.

"You better wake her." Brenner nodded to Paige. "She and I don't get on very well."

"So I've heard. " He laughed. "She really is a great girl, and a great doctor. She's only been here two you need to give her more of a chance to prove herself." He tried to reason with him.

Brenner shrugged and after grabbing a cup of coffee left the lounge.

"Paige." Carter whispered, gently shaking her sleeping form. She moaned gently and eventually opened her eyes.

"Oh my god I fell asleep!" She groaned as Carter helped her pull herself into a seating position.

"Correction. WE fell asleep." He told her as she combed through her hair with her fingers.

"Come on, Brenner needs a few pairs extra hands." He stood up and pulled her to her feet. She slipped into her black pumps.

"Need coffee!" She moaned whisking up her Harry Potter mug, pouring a cup of black coffee and following Carter out of the lounge.

"Well now that Sleeping Beauty is finally awake we can get on with some work." Brenner directed his comment at her and she threw him a disdainful look.

Brenner continued. "There's a drunk nineteen year old boy in Exam Three in need of sobering up and treated for first degree burns on his left arm. One of his more drunk friends set his jumper alight with a cigarette lighter. Do you think your intern could handle that Dr Carter?" He shot Paige a look of unadulterated loathing.

"Without a doubt. Besides, she'll be supervised by me the entire time." Carter said calmly, laying a hand gently on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Once you've dealt with that there's an eight year old boy in Curtain One who needs a lumbar puncture. Should provide a good teaching case. That's it." He finished and with a smirk at Paige he stalked off to deal with another patient.

She sighed frustrated as she watched Brenner's retreating figure. "That man really does have it in for me."

Carter grinned and began to lead her away with a hand on the small of her back. She frowned and allowed her feet to carry her to where Carter was leading her making a mental note of things she could do to stop Brenner from despising her so.

"Ignore him." He said gently.

"But . . ." She began to protest.

He stopped them in their tracks and held her by the shoulders. She flinched a little and sloshed coffee on the floor. "Don't act like a petulant child it's not worth it. He's looking for you to prove yourself but you're just TOO. DAMN. STUBBORN." He put particular emphasis on the last three words.

She frowned but continued to stare intently into his eyes.

"But that's one of the things I love about you." He whispered incredibly softly.

Her lips parted into a gentle 'o' shape and she let out a shaky breath. She slid down the wall, out of his grip and placed her coffee cup on the floor before standing up and wrapping her arms tightly around Carter. It was the only restraint stopping her from kissing him full on the mouth. He wrapped his arms around her in response giving a soft chuckle.

"Thank-you." She squeaked, burying her head into his shoulder.

"You're welcome." He chuckled again as they slowly released each other. "Feeling better now?" He gently brushed her fringe from her face.

She nodded and smiled as convincingly as possible as they headed to Exam Three.

"I'm Dr Carter, this is Dr Staker. What's you're name?" He introduced them to the patient as they entered the room.

"Peter." He grinned drunkenly.

"How you doin'?" He asked as he saw Paige emerge from behind Carter.

"I'm fine thank-you but evidently you've been taking flirting tips from 'Friends'." She grinned.

"You're beautiful Doc." He swayed unsteadily on his feet and Carter lunged forward to steady him.

"Thank-you." She grinned, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Carter shook his head as he hauled Peter back onto the bed and she was sure she heard him mutter "You're unbelievable!"

As Peter started to throw up into the basin that presumably one of the nurses had given him, Paige discreetly gave Carter a kick up the ass.

"Ow! How did you manage that your skirt is way too tight for you to be able to kick me?!" He accused, eyeing her denim skirt.

She tapped her nose twice before countering. "You been checking me out?" She grinned playfully.

"No!" He scoffed. Though truthfully he had been, as he remembered observing her see through top. He cleared his throat loudly and averted his gaze from her. "Anyway we'll administer a banana bag, just start it like a regular IV. We give a banana bag to every drunk that comes in here. Clean and dress the burn and get him some coffee to sober him up." He explained.

"Oh crap I left my mug in the corridor!" She exclaimed remembering her mug at the mention of coffee.

"What are you willing to bet that Brenner knocks it over?" Carter joked.

"Not funny!" She frowned at the thought of Brenner kicking the mug and smashing it. "I'm going to get it I'll be back in a minute." She whispered determinedly. Sticking her head out of the door she peered up and down the long corridor in search of Brenner. Once satisfied he wasn't there she ran the short length down the corridor and retrieved the mug from where she had left it and swiftly deposited it in the lounge, collecting another cup of coffee to use as an alibi should she bump into Brenner.

"Hey Peter I brought you some coffee." She handed the nineteen year old the mug as she rejoined him and Carter in Exam Three.

"Thank-you." The boy managed a small smile as he gratefully accepted the cup from Paige.

"Get the banana bag going first." He instructed her and commenced with his other instructions as she began to insert the needle into a vein on Peter's arm. "We're gonna want to sterilise that burn, it doesn't look like any of the material has fused to the skin so that's lucky. Then we'll put a dressing on it and give him a date for a follow up exam in about a week." He examined the burn closely.

"What will I clean it with, a saline solution?" She enquired as she finished working on the banana bag and bent closer to look at the burn.

"Precisely. I'll go grab some from the cupboard and get you a dressing to save you a possible run in with Brenner." He grinned knowingly.

"My hero." She threw back sarcastically with a grin as he backed out of the room.

"Is that Doctor your boyfriend?" Peter asked in between sips of coffee.

"Who, Carter?" She laughed. "No he's just my teacher and I suppose I could call him my friend. But that's all."

"Oh." He said simply and let the matter drop.

Paige frowned. She knew she would have to be very careful how she acted around Carter if people were starting to pick up on the crush she had in him.

"Here you go." Carter returned and passed her the saline, some swabs to clean the burn and a dressing.

She accepted them silently and began to clean the wound with the solution. She tried to remain calm as she finished cleaning the burn and began dressing it. She could feel his gaze on her and felt slightly awkward at their closeness, even if it was strictly business.

"Good girl." He smiled as she finished the dressing. "You should stay here for another hour of so to sober up properly and come back in a week for a follow up exam on the burn." He instructed Peter.

"Thanks Doc." Peter managed small smile.

"You're welcome. If you're going to drink underage again please make sure you don't get drunk!" Paige said with a raised eyebrow.

"Please! You're barely legal yourself and I bet you anything you drank underage when you were in college." He pointed out causing Carter to laugh.

"Fair enough." She admitted throwing a stern glare at Carter they left the exam room.

"How old are you anyway?" He asked as his laughing subsided.

"Twenty-Two." She answered.

"You look young for twenty-two." He correctly observed.

"I've nearly always looked slightly younger than I am. It's a trait I inherited from my mother." She explained.

"We gotta get an LP kit from the storage cupboard first." He told her, redirecting her before they reached curtains.

They both squeezed into the small cupboard and began to look for an LP kit. "Someone really out to tidy this place up." Paige complained as her body brushed against his.

"Tell me about it!" He agreed. "Oh sorry." He muttered as his hand grazed her breast as he reached to a higher shelf.

"It's okay." She mumbled back despite the fact she had blushed a violent shade of pink.

"Got one." He retrieved the kit from the higher shelf he had reached to.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The cupboard door had opened and a very smug looking Simon Brenner was stood there.

Paige flattened herself against the shelves so she was as far away from Carter as the small cupboard would allow. "We were looking for an LP kit, this cupboard is a mess." She avoided making eye contact with either of colleagues.

"Whatever." Brenner said with a chuckle and allowed the pair to sidle out before they going into the tiny cupboard himself. "God she's right, this place is a mess." He muttered to himself.

"I'm gonna show you how to do the tap this time then at the next opportunity you're up."

"Sure." She managed to utter through a yawn.

He chuckled. "You're still tired huh?"

"You woke me up at two in the morning of what was going to be the first decent nights sleep I've had in two months." She replied sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey kiddo, how you doing?" Carter asked as they entered curtain one and saw the little boy curled on the bed.

"He's really tired aren't you Jamie? But his condition deteriorated in the last few hours so I thought I'd better bring him in." The boys mother told the two doctors as she fondly stroked her sons hair.

"Don't worry you did the right thing. I'm gonna do a spinal tap to check if it's meningitis. If it is meningitis you've brought him in early so he's got a good prognosis." He explained.

"So he's going to be okay?" The mother asked concerned.

"He's gonna be fine. If it is meningitis we'll get him on a course of treatment straight away. If it's not meningitis it's a really bad fever and I'll get you a prescription for some antibiotics." He explained to the anxious mother what the course of action would be.

"Thank-you." She smiled gratefully.

"Okay mom if you could hold Jamie still from the front, hold his arms still I'm just going to give him a small injection that will numb the area. You come round here beside me Paige." He gave the boy the smaller injection to his back and they waited a few minutes for the anaesthetic to take effect.

"Now you insert the needle here between the vertebrae and slowly push the needle in, keeping it parallel to the bed, until you feel a small pop. Once you feel the pop gently and slowly pull this end of the syringe to extract the spinal fluid. Once you have the fluid carefully pull the needle out and hold a small piece of cotton wool at the puncture for a few minutes in case there is any bleeding." He talked Paige through the lumbar puncture as he performed it and she held a little piece of cotton wool to the puncture mark.

"See that? Crystal clear, that's how it should be done." He showed her the fluid in the syringe. "Well done Jamie you've been a really brave boy." He grinned and gently ruffled the boys hair.

"Now we get this sent off to the lab." Carter slipped they syringe into a plastic bag and labelled it with Jamie's name.

"We?" She asked apprehensively.

He looked down at her tired face, his expression gentle. "Do you wanna go take a nap?" He asked softly.

She nodded, staring up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Frank what's open?" He asked as they leaned against the desk.

"Exam two and five." Frank responded automatically.

"I'll take two." She yawned.

Carter grinned. "Get out of here."

"Night." She said as she retreated down the corridor.

"Night." He replied.

Once in Exam Two she flicked off the lights, lay down on the bed, draping her lab coat over her body and fell asleep almost instantly.

AN: Apologies if Brenner is out of character, I don't know the character very well. Please R&R!