The Anniversary
Part One
By Aeris Jade Orion
aerisjade@worldnet.att.net

Rating: R
Pairing: KW/EC, KW/KL
Beta Reader: Scotty Welles
Spoilers: Nothing yet. This first part takes place right before the eppy where they introduce Corday for the first time.

Just a side note but this is totally separate from my other KW/EC stories.

However later parts will cover everything from the eppy she first appears to season seven, and certain events that takes place there, then...now.


THEN - AUTUMN 1997


The amber liquid swirled thoughtlessly around the short glass, tiny bubbles popping softly, then sending gentle ripples throughout the surface. The hands that had been called talented, flexible, firm and tender on a number of occasions, varying from work to her personal life, lifted the glass to her dry lips so that she could drain it.

With a calm purpose she lowered the glass and methodically filled it to an inch below the rim. She gently tapped the bottle's neck on the glass rim, knocking any loose drops off the bottle, then sat it back down. Never once did her hands slip or shake.

She grinned wryly, toasting an invisible ghost across from her. In one hour and ten minutes it would be fifteen years to the day that she'd become handicapped. Fifteen years to the day when she'd been forced to give up her job as a surgeon. Fifteen years to the day that Richard was killed. Fifteen years to the day when Gabe had gently told her the few options she had left. Quit, private practice, or there was a slim possibility that she might make it in emergency medicine.

Gabe. Without him she would've bitterly walked... would've bitterly gone the other way. Taken up a job teaching in medical school or something. Instead, she'd bitterly ended up redoing her internship,  this time in order for her to switch to emergency medicine.

She'd never felt so resentful in her life. As a surgeon, she was a genius. She could've gotten any position, at any hospital. Instead, she'd taken the low-paying job as a surgical intern at a hospital on the verge of closing, in some rundown, gang-ruled neighborhood. She thought she could save the world. Africa, South America, Mexico, Cuba... Instead her decision cost her her life.

"Excuse me..."

She glanced up at the darker-haired redhead, finally noticing how crowded the dim, smoky bar was. Every table and booth was filled to the brink; she couldn't even see the bar.

"Do you mind if I join you? There doesn't seem to be anywhere else to sit."

She didn't want company. Right now she just wanted to drown her thoughts and her feelings. Kerry hardened her facial features, prepared to tell the English woman where she could go sit.

"I promise you won't even know I'm here." The taller women slipped into the booth without waiting for her okay. "I'm terribly sorry about this, but I just moved here, and my apartment's a mess. With all the unpacking and cleaning and organizing, I'm too tired to cook anything so I'm absolutely famished, but this seems to be the only place within walking distance... Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Elizabeth Corday, and you are?"

"Kerry Weaver..." Kerry shook off her automatic response. She was supposed to be getting rid of the annoying Brit, not engaging in conversation. Setting her jaw and preparing her 'Chief persona', she was ready to cut into the disturbingly upbeat woman. In an effort to chase her away, she added, "You won't like the food here. It's inedible."

A sunny smiled filled the woman's aristocratic features. "After growing up on English cooking, I can eat anything," she declared
casually. "Besides, I'm too tired to go searching out any real restaurants, even if I knew which ones were any good. I've only just arrived in America, and I'm still a little overwhelmed by it all..."

She went on like that for a while, and Kerry sort of half-listened, hearing the voice but not the words. Why did the world see fit to dump this chattering chick on her when she was trying to wallow in self-pity? And why couldn't she just tell her to shut the hell up and go away? There was something strangely fascinating about the woman's incessant good humor, tired and disheveled though she seemed.

"I'm sorry, I'm forgetting all my manners tonight," the Englishwoman said, changing the subject without pausing. "Let me shout you the next round, since I'm impinging on your hospitality. TWO MORE HERE, PLEASE!"

"Thanks," Kerry replied numbly as she downed her fifth glass. She was desperately trying to ignore the way the tall woman seemed to perk up even more. How that was even possible was beyond her.

Elizabeth leaned impossibly forward and clasped her hand as she started to chatter again. "Here I am going on about nothing, and I've barely let you get a word in edgewise," she said. "What brings you here, all by yourself?"

"Just the usual," Kerry replied evasively, "general melancholia, remembrance of times past, that kind of thing. Cheers." She picked up her new drink as soon as it arrived.

"Newhart," Elizabeth replied, smiling as their glasses clinked.

"What?"

"A joke. 'Cheers', 'Newhart'. They're both situation comedies over here, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Kerry drank, buying herself a moment, but somehow the silly response had held its own, deeper meaning. New heart...

Kerry found herself on the receiving end of Corday's warm, grey eyes, while they sipped their drinks in momentary silence. At some point, she became aware that Elizabeth's hand was expertly massaging her left hand. It was probably unconscious, but she didn't pull away...

She nearly jumped as a shoeless foot brushed the inside of her right leg, setting her skin on fire. It must have been accidental, Elizabeth was probably just stretching her legs under the table...or was it deliberate? The other woman's eyes gave no clue...

Kerry was firmly heterosexual, and had been all her life. The problem was that, between the alcohol she so rarely drank in earnest and her depression over her life, she was desperate for some form of physical release. Whether it was in the form of a fight or in the arms of a lover.

"It's getting pretty loud in here," her voice, acting against her brain's orders, spoke up. "I live a few blocks from here if you'd like to...?"

"I'd love to." The surgeon stood expectedly and waited for Kerry to stand up, her eyes passing over the shorter woman's crutch impassively. "I don't suppose we could pick something up to eat on the way..."



'What the hell are you doing?' Kerry stared at the bottle of wine nervously. For the last forty minutes, she'd been forcing herself to entertain Elizabeth, and for what? To what end? Because of a come-on she probably imagined. 'Why would someone like her be interested in a bitter, damaged hag who spends her nights alone?' And anyway, even if she was interested, why was Kerry suddenly so open to the possibility?

Maybe it was because Elizabeth was bright, open, funny, confident, outgoing, ablebodied...everything Kerry was not, but might have been if things had gone just a little differently fifteen years ago.

She clamped down on those thoughts angrily, picking up the bottle of wine and the two delicate flutes. She limped into the living room, pausing briefly to take in her newest acquaintance. Corday was comfortably folded in the middle of the sofa. Her long legs were tucked up under her, the leather sandals she'd discarded some time ago sitting neatly under the coffee table. The maroon, ankle-length wraparound skirt had fallen open just enough to reveal her bare, olive-skinned legs from her knees down. Her eyes trailed further up to the flimsy, almost see-through white blouse and nearly dropped the flutes. Somehow, during the few minutes she was in the kitchen, the first two buttons had come undone, showing just enough of the surgeon's cleavage to entice.

Kerry was still harboring doubts; if the British woman was coming onto her, she knew exactly how to do it without coming off like a slut. Each move she made seemed to be carefully thought-out and elegant. Or was it all in her head, and Corday was just always this casual around complete strangers?

She sat on the sofa next to Corday, handing her one of the flutes. Elizabeth smiled lazily and leaned forward, her left hand
'accidentally' landing on her upper thigh. "I do plan to go looking at cars next week," she was saying, still going on about her transatlantic move, "but I don't look forward to learning how to drive all over again. You know, switching hands, left to right..."

Kerry was starting to become frustrated with all the dancing around; it was time to lay their cards on the table. Part of her wanted to know if there was a seduction of some sort going on, and part of her just wanted to make her guest get out and let her sob in peace. There was one way to force the issue.

Ignoring the fear she felt, she sat the wine bottle and her flute on the coffee table, put a hand on Elizabeth's far cheek, turned her face toward her and kissed her square on the mouth.

It was a clumsy, crude kiss, but it got the woman's attention. When they pulled apart, Elizabeth's eyebrows were raised, and she wasn't speaking. Well, at least I got her to stop talking.

"Well," Elizabeth said, in a softer, more deliberate tone, "that was unexpected."

Oh, shit, I've completely misread things, Kerry told herself. Maybe it was for the best; if she came off like some kind of overaggressive butch, maybe Elizabeth would get scared off and leave. "I'm sorry," she said, pulling away.

A calm hand on her shoulder stopped her before she could stand up. "What for? You didn't break any bones." Elizabeth seemed to ignore her confusion and leaned in, ever so softly brushing their lips together, quickly flicking her tongue over the outside of her lips. She curled up against her visitor and captured her lips.

She expected lust or animal passion. Sure, she was no great catch, or some beautiful woman who drove people crazy, but this was a woman she'd known less than two hours. Even someone with her limited experience knew to expect nothing but frenzied, meaningless sex from an encounter like this.

Which was why her entire core was shaken by that one kiss. The sensation of Elizabeth's lips against hers was more tender than anything Richard or Mlungisi had ever managed. Tracing her lips with the tip of her tongue, before using it to pry her lips open and ever so slightly dipping into her mouth.

Those impeccably soft hands slid under her sweater, over her taut stomach and back, working each knot out caringly. Kerry unbuttoned the thin fabric of Elizabeth's blouse and pushed it off her shoulders, pressing her body tightly against hers.

Elizabeth moved from her lips to nip at her chin, working her way with painful slowness down the slope of her neck. In a quick flex of her hands, she yanked Kerry's sweater off and dropped it to the floor so she could continue her way to her breasts.

Kerry found herself pinned back into the sofa, her plain white bra replaced by a warm, wet mouth. Her nerves lit fire as every inch of her small, firm breasts were explored and caressed. She tried to arch up into the mouth, to pull Elizabeth closer.

Two thighs clamped down on her waist as Elizabeth came up for air and gently traced her face. "We'd be more comfortable in the bedroom."

Kerry allowed her to pull her up, instinctively reaching for her sweater. She started to put it back on, but stopped at the look on the other woman's face. In her entire life she'd never been able to let herself be vulnerable.

Kerry dropped the sweater and led Elizabeth into her bedroom. She faltered at the sight of the bed, and a little voice in the back of her mind began to go off. 'I can't do this...'

Elizabeth sauntered past her, shedding the last of her clothes. Wearing her nakedness with a comfort that made Kerry jealous.

The surgeon lay back on the bed, draping her body on the dark cotton sheets invitingly. "Are you coming?"



Kerry leaned against the counter, watching the thin lines of light dancing across the room as the sun rose. A burning warmth still
consumed her body where, sometime during the night, Corday had possessively latched onto her.

God, last night. Elizabeth had proven to be the complete opposite of what she'd expected. She'd planned on faking her way through the experience, one she'd figured would last maybe five or ten minutes. Instead, she'd found herself lost in a haze of out-of-control emotions and feelings, so caught up in simply being with Elizabeth that she didn't notice the hours melt away. The loss of control had left her so completely paralyzed that she'd nearly panicked. A panic that was somehow tame compared to the guilt she was feeling.

A pair of arms circled her waist, and she felt the warm pressure of another body against her back. "Mmmm, good morning," the throaty, velvet voice purred, chin on Kerry's shoulder.

"Morning," she replied automatically, suddenly feeling underdressed in her bathrobe. "Want some coffee?"

"Love some, thanks." Elizabeth released her, and she went to the cupboard, removing another mug and filling it from the pot. She turned and handed it to Elizabeth, who wore only one of Richard's old oversized tee shirts, the neckline falling off one shoulder, and the hem covering almost none of her legs. Oh, that woman had legs... "Hope you don't mind," she said, nodding down at the shirt.

"No, not at all..." Kerry was wondering how to get the woman out the door and out of her life. She wasn't used to one-night-stands, and didn't know how to handle them the next morning. Last night was great, thanks, now get lost?

Elizabeth drank from the mug with both hands, gazing steadily at Kerry over the rim as she did so. "Mmm, just what the doctor ordered," she said with a smile.

"How did you know I'm a doctor?" Kerry asked. She was pretty sure that she hadn't told Elizabeth what she did for a living last night, even with all she'd had to drink.

The British woman's head came up. "You are?"

"I'm an attending at County General."

A smile of astonishment and delight broke over Elizabeth's face. "That's amazing! I was referring to myself, but what a coincidence! I'm starting at County today."

Oh no. "Um, you are...?"

"Yes. Dr. Romano's sponsoring me for the surgical department. I was delighted to have this opportunity to come to the United States, but I must admit to being somewhat daunted by the prospect..."

Elizabeth was chattering again, but Kerry didn't hear her. Surgeon. Not just a doctor, she's a fucking surgeon. Just like Kerry herself once was, and still might have been. It had to be some sort of cruel joke on fate's part, it was the only explanation.

"You have no idea what a relief this is. I've been worried sick about starting a new job and not knowing anyone." She stepped forward and put her arms about Kerry, hugging her. "But it looks like my luck is holding true. First the job offer, then last night, and now this..."

Kerry's head was bowed, her forehead against Elizabeth's shoulder. Yeah, your luck is running great, she thought, and mine continues to suck. Like the Schwarzenegger-Devito movie, where one twin got all the good stuff, and the other turned out to be a loser...

"Kerry? Is everything all right?" Elizabeth must have picked up on the fact that Kerry wasn't as happy as she was. Finally.

Kerry disentangled herself with some effort. "Look, um..." she began. "I don't want to give you the wrong impression. I don't do this sort of thing."

"What sort of thing?"

"Take your pick. I don't sleep with people I've picked up in bars. I don't sleep with colleagues. And I don't, REALLY don't sleep with women. Nothing personal, I'm just not gay."

"Neither am I," Elizabeth replied easily, "just open-minded. Besides, you kissed me, remember?"

"I know. And that was a mistake. I was drunk, I was depressed...never mind, it's a long story. The point is, I've broken three of my rules at once. This should never have happened!" she finished angrily, turning away to busy herself with dishes in the sink.

Elizabeth stood there staring at her blankly for a second, then simply left the kitchen.

Now she was going to have to go to work and face her. What the hell was she thinking last night? 'That's the problem. You weren't...'

It was a few minutes before she turned to see Elizabeth, fully dressed.  "I apologize, Kerry, I didn't mean to cause discomfort." Her voice was cool, but civil. "I'll go now."

"Elizabeth..." There was something more she wanted to say, but it wouldn't come out. "At work, could we...pretend this never happened? You know, for the sake of working together?"

She got a nod in response. "If you like."

"Thank you. Let's just forget this ever happened, all right?"

A shadow of sadness passed over the other woman's features. "You're welcome to do that," she said, "and I'll respect your wishes. But I have no intention of forgetting it myself. I don't consider anything as enjoyable as last night to be a mistake. It never has to come up again, if you prefer, but I intend to remember it fondly. I hope you can do the same."

Kerry didn't answer.

"It was nice to meet you, Kerry." With those words, Elizabeth left the house, closing the door behind her.

After she was gone, Kerry tried to force the issue out of her mind. Today was the day that documentary crew was supposed to come film Mark working, she remembered, and she was concerned he might not be up to it, the way he'd been acting in the wake of his assault.

But she couldn't concentrate on that. She was certain a mistake had just been made. But whether it was made last night, or this morning, she couldn't tell...



Aeris Jade Orion
AIM: Aeris Jade
ICQ: 51496263
AT&T/Pow-Wow: Jade
Pow-Wow Community: Orion

Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/aeris3996

 " This act hasn't been seen in 20 years, and if i'm any judge of talent it will never be seen again."
- Theres no business, like show business