Moral Code
Part One
By Aeris Jade Orion
aerisjade@worldnet.att.net

Rating: PG-14
Pairing: KW/KL, ensemble
Spoilers: Season 7.
Timeline: Last seen new eppy.
Beta Reader: Scotty Welles
Note: This was originally 3 parts but somehow it grew to five parts between the time I sent it to Scotty and he sent it back. 
Anyway, all the parts are written and betaed I just have to send them out. I figure one part a day....

She walked down the sidewalk of the plaza, letting her mind go blank. She didn't really need anything, but she liked to treat herself every once in a while. It was something she had started doing whenever life was hard. It wasn't the "Ben & Jerry's" solution but it helped, without the added weight. If she ever needed a boost it was today.

Romano had called her into his office about the incident that she'd been suspended over. The board had some doubts about her continuing as chief. She'd thought that was over, that she'd paid the price for breaking the rules, but Corday's incident had put them on eggshells. In other words, with them settling out, they were afraid of how it would look with her in charge of the ER.

Then there was Kim. She had finally allowed herself to admit that she was attracted to her, but the question of whether she was gay or not was still hanging over her head. But did she really need to label herself? Couldn't she just be whatever she wanted without having to worry about what sexuality she was?

A glint of light caught her eye. Stopping next to the display window, she stared at the long, dark, red silk nightgown. It was beautiful, something she never would've dreamed of trying on. She didn't have the body for it. 'Would it really hurt just to try it on?'

She was someone who wore cotton nightgowns and pajama sets to bed. Even when she was married, she didn't get into the whole lace and silk thing. She just didn't have the mentality or the self-esteem for it. She had always been afraid that her lover or husband would laugh at her.

She nervously entered the store and scanned it, just to make sure no one she knew was there. There was a young couple in the back, grabbing shirts and jeans in a hurry. The dark-haired man with the bushy mustache was holding his arm close to his body. The lanky blonde woman with severe features was very quiet and glancing around subtly. They both had the too-lean look of people who were living on too much stress and not enough food and rest. Kerry saw it enough in students and residents to recognize it instantly.

A younger, muscular black man was close by to them, waiting in line to pay for a sweater. He was eyeing the couple out of the corner of his eye suspiciously, even Kerry could see that. There were a couple of other people in the store, but no one she recognized. Satisfied that she was safe, she approached the rack with the nightgown, and started to shift through them.

She stopped as she saw the size ten, focusing on it for a long minute. She was still indecisive about it. Was she doing this for herself? Or for someone else? What was she thinking? She should just walk away and forget about this ridiculous idea.

"Oh. Classic design, and very tasteful," said a voice directly behind her. Kerry blushed as the young saleswoman looked her over. "Excellent choice." She reached over and pulled it off the rack. "I just happen to have a dressing room available."

"I...don't know..."

"Well, I do." The energetic blonde grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the dressing rooms.

Kerry came to a stop to tell the saleswoman that she had decided to leave. That she wasn't interested. Something about all this made her nervous, more so than she would have imagined. Maybe it was the saleswoman. She was young and perky, reminding Kerry eerily of the late Lucy Knight, and made Kerry feel old and dumpy by comparison.

The blonde...Karen, her tag said, glanced at her curiously, just as Kerry's attention was captured by something else over her shoulder. Blood. Just a glimpse of it in her peripheral vision, but Kerry'd seen enough of it to know. Someone was bleeding. The stressed man with the mustache.

Ignoring Karen, Kerry turned to go offer her services...and then time slowed down as everything happened at once...

The mustached man winced as blood dripped from his left hand, he looked over at his wife and over at the black man standing in line. His wife and the man in line stared at each other, and her eyes suddenly narrowed in recognition. Something clicked between the woman and the black man and they dropped the clothes in their hands, drawing their guns at the same time.

The woman shot first, hitting him in the chest, but as the man fell back his hand convulsed and his gun fired. The woman's husband jerked back and fell to the ground, a stain of red spreading across his chest.

Kerry's world seemed to turn to ice as she watched it all happen in slow motion. Both men fell at once, the black man already dead. As his body struck the ground, she saw a flash of silver clipped to his belt where his shirt rode up. A police officer, maybe off duty.

"NOOO!!!" The woman screamed out in rage, turning her 9mm Beretta on the small crowd, as if searching for more enemies, and firing at whoever she saw.

The collected onlookers let out screams of their own, some diving for cover, some just dropping to the floor piteously. Kerry heard Karen shriek behind her, and knew she should turn and tackle the saleswoman, pull her down. But something made her hobble forward, toward the mustached man, her medical instinct screaming at her to save his life.

The tall woman with the gun pivoted, smashing Kerry across the back with the butt of her gun. Kerry cried out in pain and fell, turning over to look down - or up - the barrel of the gun, seeing the white knuckle tightening on the trigger.

She had time to scream, "WAIT, I'M A DOCTOR...!!" before the gun fired.



"I don't believe I'm hearing this," Romano muttered.

"What was that?"

Romano scowled at Anderson until the fat jerk gulped. "I said, I don't believe this. Dr. Weaver is one of the best administrators that this hospital has ever had. Under her leadership the ER has gained a 10 percent efficiency rating. The budget has been cut by another 17 percent, and morale is at it's highest."

"I thought you'd be happy about this. After all, you are the one that gives her the hardest time," Anderson stated.

Romano clenched his fist, fighting back the urge to deck Anderson. The smug bastard was always looking for an excuse to get a rise out of him. He flinched; all right, that wasn't a mental picture he needed right now. "I give her the hardest time because she has the most potential," he explained patiently. "She is my pupil and I am training her. When I retire, I fully expect that she'll take my place."

It was Romano's turn to smirk at the board's silence. They had not expected that.



Kerry opened her eyes, the breath ragged in her lungs. The woman had turned the gun barrel away at the last instant. "What did you say...?" she demanded.

"I-I'm a doctor..." she gasped. "...please. I just want to help."

The woman glanced down at her husband who was bleeding and back at her. "You expect me to believe that you're a doctor?" she finally asked, gesturing at the crutch.

"I'm Doctor Weaver. I'm an attending at County General." She took another deep breath.

The woman glared at her, considering, and then seized her by the collar and pulled her up off the floor, the gun jabbed painfully under her chin. "Fine. You help my husband or I'll kill you." Then she turned the Beretta on the store manager. "Lock up. Now!"

She watched as the older man raced to the front lowering the blinds and snapping the lock into place. His hands were shaking, and he looked like he had to go to the bathroom.

"Is there a back entrance?"

The manager cleared his throat nervously.

The woman leveled the gun at his right eye and made a growling sound. "Don't...make me...ask again."

"No," he answered quietly.

"Thank you." She smiled, and blew his brains out.



Romano smiled happily to himself as he strolled into the ER, one of the lesser provinces of his little empire. Kerry was going to owe him big time for this one. He had managed to talk the board into letting her keep her job, and he, in turn, hadn't lost his future replacement. All he needed to do was to get that last shred of humanity out of her, then she'd be ready.

Of course, he wasn't planning on retiring any time soon, but it was never too soon to plan for it. Besides, if he lost her now, he'd probably have to end up handling all her paperwork himself. Speaking of which...

"Where's Weaver? Isn't she supposed to be on today?" he asked, receiving only a brusque shrug in reply. He leaned over the admittance desk and glared at Randi. "Are you just dumb or did you just not hear my question?"

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," she said sarcastically, popping her gum.

"Because I'm in such a generous mood I'll let that go, If you tell me where Weaver is."

"Not here."

"I will ask you one more time, and if you don't give me a straight answer you'll be working three shifts straight this Saturday."

Randi shifted uncomfortably, the threat hitting the mark. "Fine. She never showed up, and she hasn't called. Satisfied?"

Romano stared at the desk clerk for a long moment. Kerry's shift started over ten minutes ago, and she was never late. "Then find her. Call her, page her, I don't care. Just...find her."

Kerry forced herself to keep her eyes open, to keep them focused on the cold killer in front of her. She couldn't let herself feel right now, not if she wanted to stay alive. She couldn't let herself see the deaths of the manager and the policeman.

Carefully she turned her head to look at the saleswoman from earlier. She was still alive and standing, thank god. So were a few customers and one other salesman, but the nervous, angry impulses running visibly through the armed woman's body told her that someone could die at any second. Including her.

She cut those thoughts off. If she thought, she felt, and if she felt, she would break down. Right now, she had to be strong.

"All right, now here's what's going to happen," the woman declared, stooping to pick up the dead cop's .38 revolver and stick it in her belt. "You are all going to sit down and stay quiet."

The remaining customers and staff all sat obediently down at the base of a sales desk.

"As for you...doctor...what's your name again?"

"Weaver. Kerry Weaver," she replied, hoping her voice wouldn't break.

Without warning, the woman smiled crazily. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Weaver. I'm Erin." She stuck out an empty hand.

Kerry shook it before she realized what she was doing. And then, before she could pull her hand back, she felt it gripped with painful strength.

"And you're going to take care of my husband as if your life depends on it," the smiling woman informed her with Clint Eastwood coldness. "Because it does."

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