An Old Friend and Big News

16 Weeks
November

Kerry leaned heavily against the counter at admit, watching intently as John ran the board. He was expertly doling out patients to the residents and med students, handing the yellow charts out as he wrote the doctors' initials on the board. It wasn't a particularly busy day, which was why she'd passed the reigns over to John for the day; he'd been asking for more leadership opportunities outside of his Chief Resident duties and she figured a considerably slow day would be a good place to start. On a more personal, selfish level, Kerry also considered it would be good to prepare him for her approaching maternity leave; Susan and Luka were capable of running the ER, but it wouldn't hurt for John to be equally as prepared. He, of course, didn't know about her ulterior motives. At least not yet.

"Alright, kiddos, go forth and heal," John finished, clapping his hands and sending the younger doctors and doctors-in-training out onto the floor.

"Anything for me?" Kerry asked.

John glanced at the board then back at Kerry. He was about to open his mouth to respond when something over Kerry's shoulder caught his eye.

"Weaver!"

Kerry suppressed a groan at the sound of Robert Romano's grating voice. With no enthusiasm, the redhead turned around to face the briskly approaching doctor. "Can I help you, Robert?"

Now standing across from Kerry in between the admit desks, Robert was poised for a faceoff. With a cocky, sardonic smile, he responded, "You could have helped me by showing up to our eight o'clock meeting."

Kerry swore to herself; she had scheduled the meeting with Romano a week ago. She'd felt like she'd been forgetting something all morning but for the life of her could not remember what it was. Apparently, that was it. "I've been incredibly busy," Kerry fibbed, attempting to cover up her slip-up, "I apologize for not calling your office earlier."

Robert waved his one, good arm dismissively. "I don't care why, Kerry; you weren't there and I wasted a half hour waiting for you."

Kerry swallowed her annoyance. "I'll call Marsha to reschedule."

The surgeon barked a laugh. "Oh no you don't," he shook his head. "We'll talk now and that'll be that."

A stinging heat rose from Kerry's chest, up her neck, and into her face. She was simultaneously angry, annoyed, and anxious. She had to tell Robert that she was pregnant soon, she knew that, but she in no way planned nor wanted to tell him in the middle of her own damn ER.

"Well? What was so important that you had to schedule a meeting, yet not important enough for you to remember?" Robert asked pointedly before glancing over Kerry's shoulder at John, "Our young Chief Resident hasn't fallen off the bandwagon of sobriety again, has he?" He questioned, his pale eyebrows arched and mouth pursed.

John narrowed his eyes and shook his head with a scathing, disgusted smirk.

"Oh stop it, Robert." Kerry commanded. She wanted to avoid having this conversation in the middle of the ER, but if he wanted to bring John's history onto the table, she wasn't going to have any other choice. Besides, she wouldn't necessarily have to tell him why she needed the time off. "I simply needed to talk to you about scheduling some time off."

Robert's small eyes narrowed speculatively, "When and how much?" He asked slowly.

"Twelve weeks beginning in mid-April."

John, whose eyes had been focused attentively on the chart he held while his ears listened to the two administrators exchange, felt his eyes bulge in surprise. Three months was a lot of time off.

Robert barked out a laugh. "That's not going to happen."

"It's going to have to," Kerry countered back matter-of-factly.

Robert tilted his head in consideration, "You're not pregnant, are you?"

John looked up, now, and waited expectantly for Kerry to give Romano an answer.

Kerry tipped her head back and sighed; screw it, she thought. "I am pregnant, actually." Her voice was stronger than she'd thought it would be when she finally had to tell him. She supposed that telling nearly every person of significance in she and Sandy's personal lives had helped with that.

Still watching the exchange, John's jaw nearly dropped. Next to him, Abby smiled knowingly. Neither of them had been explicitly told about Kerry's pregnancy but Abby had begun to suspect it weeks ago.

Robert stared at Kerry for a long moment, his expression indecipherable. After a while, he nodded once, sharply, "Twelve weeks in mid-April. Keep me informed, Kerry." With that, he turned around and stalked back to the elevators.

A successful smile drew itself across Kerry's face. Well I guess that's that, she thought to herself. A few moment later, after she came down from the high she always felt after standing up to Robert, reality set back in; she'd just announced her pregnancy in the middle of the ER with an audience of her students, employees, and colleagues surrounding her. That same warmth she'd earlier felt creeping up her neck and into her face was back.

"Kerry?" John asked, moving from his spot near the board to stand closer to the older doctor. She suddenly looked a little shell-shocked and he wanted to make sure she wasn't going to go down on them. "Are you okay?"

The redhead turned to face him. A wave of relief washed over her at the site of his gentle smile. Automatically, she calmed. "Yeah. Yes, I'm fine. I'm great."

John's smile grew. "Well congratulations—I had no idea."

Kerry raised an eyebrow; she was sixteen weeks pregnant and finally really showing. She knew that their lab coats normally did a lot to cover the shape of their bodies, but her belly had begun seriously protruding beyond the fabric's constraints over the past week. How the young man hadn't noticed it, she really did not know…

"I had a feeling," Abby said quietly as she passed them to drop completed orders back into the tray. She wore a teasing smile, Kerry saw, which was probably meant to establish her superiority over John. "Congratulations."

Kerry nodded at them both, unable to stop smiling. "Thank you. Both of you."

John nodded, "So, mid-April?" He asked casually, an old feeling of friendship and camaraderie washing over him; he had once been considerably close with Kerry and he thought it was a shame that they'd pulled so far apart in recent years. However, the basis and history of their friendship would always be there, as evidenced by the insuppressible happiness he suddenly felt.

Kerry felt it, too; she valued and respected John as a physician and had once valued and respected him as a very good friend as well. They'd grown apart over the past few years, but the sentiments remained deep down within her. "Early May, actually, but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry."

The resident couldn't wipe the smile off his face. He was about to ask how far along she was when the glass doors leading to triage slid open. From beyond them emerged two EMTs, a patient on a gurney, and a teenaged girl with a bloodied piece of gauze held to her head. He gave Kerry an apologetic shrug as he headed to pick up the newest patient. As an after thought, he called out over his shoulder, "Congratulations again, Kerry!"

The pregnant doctor waved him off and slid her professional mask back into place.