Silence had descended on the ER. All the patients were gone, upstairs or to other hospitals and clinics in the area, and no new ones were coming in. The County General ER was for all intents and purposes, closed.

Kim had never been in an ER that was so quiet and empty. Every once in a while a nurse might appear, or a PA, or a Doctor, but even most of the staff had been shuttled to other parts of the hospital, or told to go home.

Derek was dead.

Kim probably had message after message at all her numbers. Her parents. She'd moved back to Chicago for them, to be closer to them, to her brothers and sisters, though Curtis probably told them she was okay. She could have gone to Boston, the city of crazy, or LA, San Francisco. Could have spent her days diagnosing depressed Red Sox fans, neurotic actor/waiters or trying to discern what the greater meaning of gender was.

But she hadn't, she'd come home. To a life she thought she'd left behind. Kate would worry, Christy too, maybe even Sandy would worry, though, she probably had ways to find out Kim's status. She idly wondered if her father, a retired Chicago Firefighter knew Sandy, a current one, or if Sandy knew of him.

She'd already given statements to what felt like half the Chicago police force. She didn't have to stay in the ER. She could go upstairs, talk to DeRaad, go home.

But in the Trauma room, there was the sticking point. She'd returned to Chicago, looked up former girlfriends, had a grand ole time. Then, she'd had this amazing and horrible Thanksgiving dinner with Kerry Weaver. Had wine spilled all over her. She still had that outfit, the shirt at least. Totally unhealthy though that action was. At least she didn't wear it. The stains were probably permanent, six months later. Kerry would know how to get them out.

She closed her eyes and stopped. She stared through the absurd clear patient board. There was Kerry's name, or shorthand at least. No one had touched it, no one had touched anything in the ER.

She continued walking until she got to the Trauma Room doors. She stopped. Inside stood two men who couldn't have been more different. Robert Romano and Peter Benton. Arguing.

She quietly pushed through the door, catching Abby and Haleh's eyes. Abby hadn't left Kerry's side yet, and Haleh had only stepped out when they started clearing the ER.

Kim still wasn't quite sure why they'd done that. Some sort of police thing she guessed. She was sick of the police, first the Shannon crap, and then... It wasn't their fault, but still. She could live without seeing them for a bit.

"You cannot move her."

"I'm the Chief of this whole damn hospital, such as it is. I can do anything I please."

"She is not stable enough, and you know that."

"We need to monitor her."

"Down here. You really want to kill her that much."

Romano shook his head and placed his hand on the side of the gurney. "That was uncalled for Peter... Now."

Peter put his hand on top of Romano's. "I won't let you jeopardize her life."

Romano looked askance at Peter. "Are you going... ghetto on me Peter, I never knew you had it in you."

"Leave her here..."

Both met looked over at Kim. "So speaketh the trashy blonde dyke. Didn't I fire you earlier today?"

Kim walked over to Kerry's bedside, across from where Peter and Romano were standing. She picked up one of Kerry's hands. "How many lives has
she saved in this room. How many more could she? And if Doctor Benton won't..." Kim raised an eyebrow, "Throw down... then I will, and, for the record, my brothers taught me to fight. I have no doubt I fight a hell of a lot better than you can."

She stared down Romano, who stared back for a half a minute before he stormed out of the room. Peter hot on his heels.

Haleh left also, leaving just Abby, Kim, and Kerry in the room. Abby spoke softly. "You really have brothers?"

"Had three, now two. And I did learn how to take a punch from one of 'em. Then got laughed at when I tried to give it back."

Abby shook her head, "Do you want her vitals, or..."

Kim shook her head, "I... no..."

"I can't leave Kim." Kim nodded, "I'm not a doctor, but, I can be a horrible listener. Ear wax problem you know."

Kim's head slowly turned and she stared at Abby. "Ear wax?"

The brunette nurse shrugged with a half a smile, "I'll be over in the corner... not listening to anything you want to say to her."

Kim just sat there for another moment before she could bring herself to speak. "There's this... horribly stupid, horribly clichéd story that so many writers have butchered. It's from Plato's Symposium. That before humans there were creatures that roamed the earth. Each had four arms, four legs, two heads and one soul. Some where male and male, some female female and others male and female. They were perfect and... they were perfect. When I first read it, I was, I'd just come out, and there, finally, in print, was... well, female female action. It wasn't the point of course, but hey, I was a horny teenager."

Kim smiled sadly, "Anyway the gods didn't like that these creatures were perfect, that they didn't need gods because they were happy, so happy, Zeus I think was the main pissed off god, and so they rained. I don't know, lightning always seems to be the natural force of nature of choice... lightning rained down and the beings were split in two. More worshipers for the gods, each had two legs, one head, two arms. I think something happened with their eyes, but their soul. Their one soul was split in two. And from that time forward each half of the soul searches for the rest of it, to make itself whole again." Kim closed her eyes, her head dropping forward. "I tried to be friendly, I tried to respect your sexuality." She slowly raised her head and opened her eyes, "I will respect who you are meant to be with. I will be your friend. But Kerry, I think I love you in a much more... Lilith and Eve way Ker."

Kim stood and let Kerry's hand go, gently laying it back down on the bed. She met Abby's gaze. "Thank you."

"She'll be okay Kim, Doctor Legaspi. She's too ornery not to pull through."

This brought a small smile to Kim's lips, "Ornery huh?" Abby shrugged, "I'll be upstairs. You'll call me if anything at all happens?"

"Definitely."

oOOOOo

Kim flipped through Kerry's date book. She looked up when Peter poked his head in the door. "Oh, hi, I was just..."

Peter put a hand up, "She doesn't really have a next of kin, but her ex-husband's name starts with an H."

"Thank you."

Peter paused at the door, "Romano is Romano. They let him stay because he's an amazing surgeon. He can't fire you." Peter shook his head, "As the one and only director of diversity, trust me on that point. If you need anything. Just tell me."

Peter had the door open when Kim spoke again, "Doctor Benton? You knew her, before..." Kim glanced around Kerry's almost never used office, "Before this place?" Peter nodded. "She was different? Funnier, less stressed out, less..."

"Alpha bitch." He nodded again, "She was," He glanced out into the still deserted hallway, "You know, those couple of weeks between when you started and.. when, whatever happened, happened between you two, she was starting to be like the Kerry I'd met before." He shrugged, "For what it's worth."

Kim nodded as Peter exited the room. She went back to the date book. After a few moments she finally found the entry she was looking for. She stared, "New Jersey?" She shrugged and dialed. "Hello Doctor..." She was cut off.

oOOOOo

Abby sagged against one of the ER's empty walls. She needed to call Kim, Kerry had flat lined, but they had gotten her back.

"What happened."

Abby stood and put her hands out, "She's fine, she's okay. Doctor Benton's in there with her now. And, no, she hasn't regained consciousness yet."

"Yet.." Kim sighed. "Called her, uh, ex-husband, and I think her best friend in Europe, Britain somewhere over on the other side of the Atlantic, 'cause there was a weird as hell phone number..."

Peter left the trauma room and paused in front of Kim and Abby. "The neuro test came back fine Doctor Legaspi." Kim closed her eyes, "And we're going to move her soon."

Kim looked over at Peter. "She's stable enough?"

Peter nodded, "Yes." He put a hand on Kim's shoulder. "She survived Africa and the semi-annual shootings in this place. She'll outlive us all."

Peter left the two women alone. Abby looked in the room's window. "Do you want to be alone with her?"

Kim shook her head, "Ah, no... I'll, I need to go home, get some things."

Abby nodded, "I'll stay with her until you get back."

"Thank you."

Abby smirked, "You got a healthy Maggie to leave Chicago. We'll call this even."

"Thank you."

Abby waved at the doors. "Go, go..." She watched Kim jog towards the elevator and shook her head. "Kerry Weaver is gay, that came out of left field."