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

Rating: R
Pairing: KW/KL, KW/EC
Beta Reader: Scotty Welles

Disclaimer: Not mine, don't want them *steps over to the side while looking up nervously *.



She stood in the doorway searching for the woman she knew had to be there. She was supposed to be home with her fiancee right now, but the need to apologize for what happened earlier was too much to simply ignore.

She could have handled the situation better, but her desperate need to get beneath that hard surface had taken control. It wasn't just curiosity or even concern. There was a basic need to understand what had transpired between them a few years earlier. Some need to know what could haunt her one day every year.

At first she couldn't have cared. Yes, it was an incredible experience. Yes, she didn't like the idea of walking away. But she
believed that, despite what Kerry had said, the doctor had intentionally used her for a one-night stand. At first.

After working with Kerry she slowly came to know that she was anything but a liar. The doctor was highly honorable and totally professional. She'd become increasingly intrigued as days turned into weeks. Now she had to fix their already shaky friendship.

The shadows in the back were hiding Kerry's usual booth. With no other choice she started to push her way through the crowd, begging apologies as she went. She lifted up on her toes, trying to catch some sight of her friend.

A large man shifted to the right, giving her a clear view of the booth. She smiled with relief as the familiar head of red hair appeared. Kerry was talking quietly to someone across from her. Elizabeth craned her neck and froze, the smile fading at the sight of Kim Legaspi.

'They're only friends, just go over there, say you're sorry and leave...' The surgeon started to close the distance, again feeling
slightly better about the situation.

Kerry seemed to shift forward and shyly clasped Legaspi's outstretched hand. The blonde doctor smiled and tenderly raised Kerry's hand, kissing the palm.

Elizabeth snapped her head around waiting for Kerry to slap her. The red head blushed and...ducked her head, before saying something softly.

The man who'd moved out of her view bumped into her, pushing further into the crowd. She allowed it to happen since it was also pushing her out of their sight. With a numb shock, she watched them leave, intimately leaning into each other and talking.

'She said she didn't like women,' Elizabeth thought. 'I guess what she meant is she didn't like me...'



"...I never told her how incredible that one night was. I wouldn't even admit it to myself."

"Why?"

"If I had... it would've meant letting her in." She had let Richard in and he had died in her arms. His blood staining her clothes and skin, splattered across her face and in her hair. "Everyone I let in dies."

"Is that why you push your colleagues away?"

"I was a child prodigy. By the time I was 13 I had graduated high school and started collage. I went to the best schools on scholarships, got offered the best opportunities. I was only 21 when I finished my surgical residency. I continued working in Africa, leaving the modern, more comfortable hospital for a rundown clinic working for practically nothing. The hours were inhuman, the conditions unbearable. I lived in a small room that only held a cheap cot and a single trunk.

"That's where I met Richard. He was... the most selfless man I'd ever met. He had no money, wasn't very handsome..." She laughed softly. "Hell, he wasn't even cute. He had this horrible mane of thick, shaggy, mud-colored hair, and the most pitiful brown eyes. He wasn't lean, or well built, just average. He laughed like a drunk horse, and cried if he couldn't save a patient. Sometimes at night you could hear him sobbing over the conditions of the nearby villages, over the treatment of the armies against the people, even over a child losing a toe or finger.

"He treated every woman he met like a queen. Fat, thin, gorgeous, average, it didn't matter to him. He was always getting the door, or wanting to carry what ever she had in her arms. And the way he dressed... God, I don't think he owned one piece of clothing that fit him. He would walk around in shirts that had sleeves that hang down six inches past his fingers. His pants were always trying to fall off and his belts would be pulled so tight that the excess length would wrap completely around his waist. That's not even going into the state of them. There were buttons missing from his shirts, holes and worn places, stains that he couldn't get out...

"He was also the most quiet-spoken man I've ever known. He would just sit there with this private little grin on his face, just... listening. He was always listening. In a fight he would just take whatever was being dished out, not once trying to defend himself. He dropped out of high school three times, failed almost every grade, and just barely managed to make it into a community college. It took him eight years to get through med school, and...I loved him."

She snuggled closer to the warm body, finding some measure of comfort in those arms. She was grateful when Kim didn't push her into continuing.

"We were married less than three months later. For the next two years we worked in clinics, and hiked into remote villages. His depression got worse and I realized that if we didn't get out it would destroy him. When Memorial in Brooklyn offered me a job I jumped on it. Richard hated it because that meant working under a sponsor since I was an African citizen. It was fine at first, despite my demotion.

"Then, the night before our anniversary...we were both called into work. We'd both been working double shifts over the last two weeks and were nearly dead. We worked for hours on end without any type of break. It was sometime in the early morning on our anniversary when we were able to go home. He was asleep the second he sat in the passenger seat. I knew I wasn't in any condition to drive. I knew we should have hailed a taxi or taken the subway, but we were both so tired and it was only a ten-minute drive to our apartment."

"We were about a block away when I fell asleep behind the wheel, we went through a red light and into a semi... A pole went through Richard's chest, he died in my arms.... My leg and hip was shattered, there was nerve damage to my hands."

"You blame yourself."

"If I hadn't insisted on us taking jobs at a hospital that was so understaffed we won't have had to work so many shifts. If I had
insisted we take a taxi instead.... I lost the man I loved, my career..."

The tears that she'd denied for so many years ran freely and she made no attempt to stop them, giving into the need to let go of her demons even if it was for only one night. It was the sight of Kim staring at her, sharing her pain, in the moonlight that snapped the last string that was holding her back.

She reached out and kissed her, pushing Kim back onto the bed. She was tired of being afraid to live and from now on that was what she was going to do, live.



"Good morning, everyone. Isn't it a glorious morning?"

The lounge went quiet as Kerry literally radiated joy, a bright grin plastered to her face.

John chuckled at the change in his friend, besides her mood was always so contagious. "Well, someone's in a good mood this morning. You get a new stereo system?"

"Trust me. What I woke up to this morning was a whole lot more... exhilarating than music." Kerry winked at him as she opened her locker and put her stuff inside.

"Oh really? Anyone we know?"

Kerry studied Mark for a second, trying to decide if that was a question she wanted to answer. Last night had been incredible, she had given herself over to Kim completely. Allowing herself a small measure of peace that she hadn't had since Richard had died. It may not have been much, but it was all she could give. She would never be able to totally forgive herself for the accident, but she could begin the slow process of accepting it, and hopefully one day healing.

Now, looking at the people she'd worked side by side with for the last five years of her life, she had a decision to make. Should she keep them locked out, or stop running scared and let them in? It wasn't about them knowing who she was dating, they would find out anyway. It was simply a question of if they found out from her, or through the rumor mill.

"Mmm hmmm, Kim." She closed her locker and leaned against it lazily, her fingertips brushing up the lockers as though they were a lover.

"Dr. Weaver? You've got a delivery..." Randi hesitated in the doorway with the long, thin white box in her arms, eyeing the shocked group. Taking in the twinkle in Weaver's eyes she decided to risk it and came in far enough to give the box to her.

'Kim must be the last romantic left in the world...' She dropped the box on the table, opening it to reveal...a dozen envy's.

The joy she'd felt vanished utterly, replaced by shock. 'Oh God, Richard...'

Recovering her composure, she glared death at the poor desk clerk who was trying to get a glance into the box. "Who sent these?"

"I don't know. They came last night after you'd left..."

'Calm down. It's probably just a coincidence...' With shaking hands she picked up the envelope lying among the stems and opened it. The words hitting her like a knife through her heart.

'Why now?'



Aeris Jade Orion
AIM: Aeris Jade
ICQ: 51496263
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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