Part Four - Strike two
By Céindreadh
ceindreadh@eircom.net
DISCLAMER: "ER," the characters and situations depicted within are the property of Warner Brothers Television, Amblin Entertainment, Constant c Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but without the intent of infringement. The story presented here is written solely for entertainment purposes, and the author is making no profit.
Note: This is all Cathy's fault for putting the idea in my head
Because I don't want to turn this in to a Carter angst fic I'm asserting that the only after-effects Carter suffered from the incident in 'All in the Family' are chronic back pain and a slight limp.
Previously on ER
John and Dave were struck by lightning and woke up in each other's bodies. They decided to play along, at least until they could figure out how to get back to normal. Gamma Carter insisted on bringing 'John' and 'Dave' back to her house while
they recovered. A few days later they returned to work.
The next few days passed uneventfully enough. Abby was pleasantly surprised that 'Dave' seemed to be less impatient when talking her through procedures.
Jing-Mei was less pleasantly surprised to find 'John' spent more time looking at her chest than a chart she was supposed to be showing him.
But overall things seemed to be going well, and nobody seemed suspicious. It took a bit of getting used to for both men. John had to remember to try and flirt with every woman that said hello to him. He also found it hard to remember to scrawl his way through the charts.
Dave however used the burn on his hand as an excuse for his lack of penmanship. He valiantly refrained from chatting up his female colleagues, with one exception.
"Dr Weaver," said Dave, with a smile, as he followed her in to the lounge. "Care to join me for a coffee. I'm on my break," he assured her hastily.
"I could do with one," said Kerry. "I've just spent the last hour at a hospital board meeting. I'd rather deal with a fifty car pile-up than that crowd."
Sitting down on the couch, she watched as Dave quickly made up a fresh pot of coffee.
"There you go," said Dave, handing her the mug before sitting down beside her.
"Mmm, that's good," said Kerry, taking a drink of it. "So how are your injuries? I hope they're not bothering you too much."
Dave shrugged. "They're more awkward than anything else," he said. "I mean, it's not easy trying to hold a pen or a spoon or anything when you've got a dressing on your hand. But it's healing up okay."
"That's good to know."
"Yo Haleh," said John, awkwardly. "Have you seen Da...Carter around anywhere?"
"Last I saw he was in the lounge with Dr Weaver," replied Haleh.
"Oooh," said Chuny, with a grin. "Maybe you shouldn't go in. You never know what they might be up to." She and Haleh started laughing.
"Please," said John, with a pained expression on his face. He headed for the lounge, wondering why the nurses' teasing was affecting him so much. True, Dave and Kerry, or rather 'Carter' and Kerry had been spending a lot of time in conversation together. Although from what John had seen, Kerry usually seemed to initiate these conversations. "She's just worried about me," John told himself. "And Dave is trying to play along so nobody suspects what's happened. That's all it is." He wondered why he found it so hard to convince himself.
"You seem to be getting along very well with Dr Weaver," said John, that night when they were eating dinner. "Or should I say 'John' is getting along very well with her."
Dave frowned. "What's your point, Carter?"
"I just think that maybe you shouldn't be spending as much time with her. I mean, Kerry knows me about as well as anyone in County. If anyone can figure out that something's wrong then it'll be her. Especially if you keep annoying her the way you have been."
"Hey, if I am 'annoying' the Chief, I'm sure she's perfectly capable of letting me know," said Dave.
"Fine, fine," said John, defensively. "I just don't think it's a good idea, that's all."
"Yeah, well that's your opinion."
John frowned, but didn't comment further.
The rest of the meal was spent in silence, and John and Dave, ignored each other for the rest of the night.
"Chuny, where's Carter," snapped John angrily.
Chuny looked at 'Dave' in surprise. "I think he went up to the roof."
John stormed off without a word of thanks.
"Jeez, what's up with Malucci?" Chuny asked Amira.
Amira shrugged. "He's been a bit moody ever since the accident. Maybe the flash scrambled his brains or something."
"How could you tell," snickered Chuny.
John pushed open the door to the roof. Dave was leaning against the far wall, looking out over the city. He looked up as Carter stormed over to him.
"Hey man, what's up?" asked Dave lazily.
"I was about to ask you the same question," said John angrily.
Dave raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"
"I just heard Kerry telling Mark that she was going for drinks with you after work."
"Yeah, so?" said Dave, puzzled. "We got to talking in the lounge. She said she was looking forward to the end of her shift, and I asked her if she'd like to join me in a coupla drinks."
"You can't do that," said John, pacing back and forth.
"What's the big deal? We've been getting on pretty well these last few days."
John stopped his pacing and stared at Dave. "The big deal is that she thinks you're me. If you were still in your own body, she wouldn't be giving you the time of day."
"Amira," said Kerry, as she dumped a file on the desk. "Have you seen Dr Carter around?"
"Hmm, someone's popular today," said Amira. Kerry looked at her suspiciously. Amira explained. "Malucci was looking for him a few minutes ago as well."
"And what did you tell him?" Kerry asked impatiently.
"That Carter went up to the roof," said Amira.
"Thank you," said Kerry, as she crutched away from admit.
Lydia watched as Kerry headed for the roof. "Looks like someone's in a hurry for their date," she said with a sly grin.
"And what the hell do you mean by that?" asked Dave frowning. "I've always liked the Chief and now's my chance to get to know her a bit better. I think I've really got a chance with her."
"A chance?" said John horrified. "For what? A quick roll in the hay and then moving on to your next conquest?"
"It's not like that," snapped Dave. "The Chief's special. I think we could get something going between us."
"And what happens when we switch back? Have you thought about what happens then?"
"I've news for you Carter. I don't see that happening any time soon."
"It's not you she's interested in," said John, angrily. "It's me she thinks she's getting involved with."
"No," snapped Dave. "It may be your body, but it's my mind, my character that's got the date with her."
Neither man noticed the storm clouds overhead.
Kerry pushed the door open to the roof. After thinking it over, she had decided that going for drinks with 'Carter' was not such a good idea. It wasn't that she disliked the idea; on the contrary Carter's company had been most agreeable these past few days. But there was something about him that was rather unsettling that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
She frowned as saw Malucci and Carter together. She really didn't want to turn John down in front of Dave. Waiting by the door, she decided to let them finish their conversation before making her presence known.
Kerry blinked in surprise as she heard what the two were saying to each other. This had got to be one of Malucci's pranks she thought to herself. Body swaps?
"I won't let you do this to her," snapped John.
"Oh yeah, and how are you going to stop me?" yelled Dave
In answer, John threw a punch at Dave. Dave stumbled back into the wall. Recovering quickly, he lunged at Carter, knocking him to the ground.
Kerry had been watching unobtrusively. Now horrified, she limped forward, yelling at the pair to break it up. She was several meters away when the bolt of lightning struck them. For the second time in as many weeks, Kerry screamed in horror as Dave and Carter were flung apart to land unconscious a few meters away from each other.
Dave's eyes flickered open and he found himself staring at the ceiling of a hospital ward. Trying to sit up, he groaned as his whole body ached.
Dave's groans alerted Kerry, who had been asleep in a chair near the door. "Hey, how're you feeling?" she asked, as she limped over to him.
"Terrible," groaned Dave.
"Well, that's to be expected after being stuck by lightning a second time," said Kerry, with a smile of relief. "You didn't get off quite as lightly as the last time."
She saw Dave's look of worry, "It's not too bad," she said, reassuringly. "Mild concussion, lots of bruises and a few minor burns. We'll be keeping both of you in for a day or two just for observation."
Dave blinked as Kerry indicated the figure in the other bed. His eyes widened as he recognized the pale face that he had seen in his mirror every day for the past week.
"Carter," he breathed, in disbelief. "How...?" he looked down at his arms, relieved to see the familiar muscles straining against the hospital gown.
Kerry frowned. "John was struck by the same bolt of lightning as you," she said. "Don't you remember?"
"I thought I was just dreaming," said Dave, thoughtfully.
"Well, if you were dreaming, you're awake now," said Kerry with a smile. "And it looks like you have company." She nodded to the other bed where John was groaning as he woke up. "Nice to have you back Carter."
"Wha? Who?" stammered John, wondering how Kerry had found out. "I'm not..." His voice trailed off as he saw Dave grinning at him from the other bed. "Dave?"
"The one and only," replied Dave. "Looks like we were both pretty lucky. I mean, how many guys get struck by lightning and live to tell the tale."
Kerry was carefully examining Dave's vitals while he was talking. Now she moved over to check on John's. "Well you don't seem to have too many side-effects beyond the bruising and burns. I'm going to let everyone know that you're awake, but I'm not letting any visitors in for a few hours. You both need to get some rest."
Kerry hesitated before continuing. "I heard you two arguing on the roof, just before...before the lightning strike. Either of you want to tell me what was going on?"
Dave shrugged. "Don't know what you're talking about Chief. Carter and I don't have anything to argue about, do we Carter?" He looked over at John.
"Malucci's right," said John quickly. "We've nothing to argue about...not now."
Kerry looked at them both suspiciously, but they appeared sincere enough. "Perhaps I was mistaken," she conceded.
"Yeah," said Dave, wondering just what else Kerry had overheard.
He waited until Kerry had left the room before turning back to John.
"So," he said. "Looks like things are back to normal."
"Yeah, or what passes for normal around here," said Carter with a twinge of regret. He had enjoyed the lack of pressure that went with being Dave. It had been nice not to have people expecting him to know everything. It had also been nice not to have the constant nagging pain in his back, although that seemed to have lessened in two weeks. Possibly due to the exercise regime that Dave had started. John resolved to continue with it. After all, anything Dave could do, he could do as well.
Dave for his part was relieved to be back in his own body. While Carter's body wasn't too bad he supposed; there was nothing like his own well toned, finely muscled body. And it was a relief to be rid of his backache, well the one that had been caused by the stabbing. He could feel the pain from being flung across the roof, but at least that was only temporary. His one regret was that he wasn't going to be able to get to know Kerry a little bit better.
A thought suddenly struck him. "Hey Carter, you know how the first strike swapped us and the second one swapped us back?"
"Yeah," said Carter, wondering where this was going.
"Well, you know the way the Chief was on the roof as well."
"Uh-uh."
"Wouldn't it have been interesting if she'd got swapped as well. You know; if she'd ended up in one our bodies and one of us ended up in hers."
"Oh God, Malucci. I do not even want to think about it," said John glaring at Dave. "Oh man, bad enough I'll have nightmares about being trapped in your body, now you want me to imagine being trapped in Kerry's." He rolled his eyes.
"You've got to admit, it would be kinda cool. I wonder how we could rig it."
John glared at Dave. "Dave?"
"Yeah Carter?"
"Just shut up, please."
"Sure thing Carter," said Dave with a grin, as he curled up in the bed.
THE END
(I really really mean it <g>)
Ceindreadh
--
Jahavan coffee: each molecule is programmed to pelt round the body, kicking the shit out of any alcohol molecules it finds.
(Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith)
--
http://homepage.eircom.net/~ceindreadh/index.htm
aol messenger : cein1