TITLE: June Bug

AUTHOR: Ellen Hursh

RATING: PG

KEYWORDS: KW/LKo romance

LAST EPISODE SEEN: "The Crossing"

TIMELINE: About a week after "M'Aidez".

CROATIAN: Comes right between "croak" and "crochet" in my little dictionary. Ha. Seriously, though. "Rekao sam, chu platiti!" = "I said, I'll pay!"; "iz rata u miru" = "from war to peace" (either that, or "there is a frog in my bidet"); "Vidimo se" = "see ya" (lit., "we see each other").

ARCHIVE: If you must.

DISCLAIMER: ER and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No infringement of their copyright is intended. This story was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and may be downloaded for your own pleasure.

SUMMARY/SPOILERS: Just an ordinary day in an ordinary ER where two of the docs are out and a temp is starting his first day. (Spoilers? As if!)

PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS: Relative Safety; Off to a Rocky Start; Troubled Water; Comin' Home; Something in the Way; Heart of the Family; The Croatian Patient; It's No Picnic, I Tell Ya; Out of Control; Fool for Your Love; Volatile Opinions; No Perfect Day; Resurrection; Full Speed Ahead; All Tied Up; All Is Mended; M'Aidez

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written mostly because I wanted the full-circle closure to Season 6 that we never got for "real". Either the real season finale or an interlude... however you prefer to think of it.

PREVIOUSLY, ON MY ER: Carol left County to be with Doug; Kerry and Luka met with her biological parents at dinner; Carter was sent to a drug rehab center for addicted doctors; Luka took two months of leave time, and returned to Croatia to visit friends and family, and generally "decompress"; Romano approved the hiring of a moonlighter for the duration of Luka's absence.

"Excuse me. Excuse me?" Randi was in an especially bad mood, partly due to the huge influx of patients today - they seemed to have an instinct for figuring out when County was short on docs, and *both* Carter and Dr Kovac had been gone for about a week. Weaver refused to go into any details about what had happened to either man, so the department - heck, the whole *hospital* - was left to speculate on the *real* turn of events. Randi was running the book, and the theories were pretty varied: one of the "slash and dash" surgical residents, Dr Roberts, even had forty dollars (twenty for both Carter and Dr Kovac) on the theory that the two men had run off together. And now Randi had some guy who kept *bugging* her, and wouldn't go away! Cute, in kind of a Kiefer Sutherland way, but he was bugging her.

"*What*!?!" She shoved a clipboard at the guy, and impatiently pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Go siddown, fill that out, and we'll get to you when we get to you!" He picked up the clipboard, examined the blank hospital form, and tossed it back down in front of Randi, who flinched a little at the loud clatter of the clipboard. Great... a nut. And Security *never* came when they were called - Psych was just as bad (unless it was Dr Legaspi responding to one of Dr Weaver's pages... and what the hell was up with *that*?).

"That's not going to do me - or you - any good," he explained calmly. "I'm supposed to talk to Dr Weaver... I'm Dr Dennison, the new temp?" He showed her the hospital ID he'd been given the other day, and she stared at him... whoooops. Weaver'd told her to keep an eye out for the guy.

"Oh, geez. Sorry. It's been so busy--" He shrugged, and waved aside her apology, gesturing at the mass of patients waiting in chairs.

"Don't worry about it. As you said, it's very busy. Is Dr Weaver available?"

"Uh..." She turned, and looked at the board. Oh, hell. Weaver was signed up for a *bunch* of different cases, no telling where she actually was right now. "Chuny? Hey, Chuny!" The nurse, who'd been hurrying past, approached the desk - at first she was impatient at the interruption, then she got an eyeful of the guy Randi was talking to. Well, she supposed, she could make a *little* time to go over there!

"What's up, Randi?" Mm...hm... slightly taller than Carter, blond, medium build... looked kinda like a young Donald Sutherland. Chuny had put in for a transfer from OB to the ER after catching a late-night showing of "M*A*S*H" on one of the cable channels (they'd been doing a "War Week" theme on TNT) - she knew that emergency medicine had its origins in the "meatball surgery" of battle, and she'd already been fascinated by the exciting things that she saw whenever she came down here from OB.

"You know where Weaver is? This is our new doctor-- uh, wha'd you say your name was?"

"Nick Dennison. And you would be," he ducked his head slightly, to read her name tag, "Chuny Marquez. That's a lovely name, uh... *Mrs* Marquez?" She flashed him a flirty grin... boy, he even *sounded* a little like Donald Sutherland!

"That's 'Miss'. And call me Chuny. Please."

"Chuny, then. Pleased to meet you. So you're one of the nurses I'm going to be working with?"

"That's right, Dr Dennison." He smiled slowly, and Randi rolled her eyes. Great... just what they needed, another doctor who was fully aware of his good looks. At least Dr Kovac seemed to be refreshingly clueless about how cute he was. He wasn't her type (even aside from the fact that he was dating Dr Weaver... or at least, he'd been dating her at the time he left), but he was still pretty damn fine.

"Call me Nick. Please. I like to have a certain amount of informality with coworkers... even if you're to be my coworkers only temporarily."

"Y'know, Dr Weaver is busy with a patient right now, but *I* could take you on a quick 'get-acquainted' tour of the ER right now, if you don't mind me looking after patients while I'm showing you around."

"Hey, that's what we're both here to do, right? Thank you, Chuny." Randi watched them walk away, and rolled her eyes again as she reached over to answer the ringing phone.

* * *

Kerry finished with the patient, and instructed him to return in two days for a wound check. "Remember, Mr Griffith - keep it clean and dry. And I realize it itched, but for god's sake don't *ever* do that with a pair of garden shears again!" He left, and she sighed.

Another month or so, and the new crop of residents would be arriving. And, Luka would be coming home. He hadn't said anything about exactly *when* he expected to be returning, in the first postcard she'd received from him... he hadn't written much, really, just a few lines in his spiky hand, closing out with "Miss you."

She yawned, and took a detour into the lounge for some coffee... then promptly nearly dropped the cup when she saw Carol emptying her locker into a box. "Carol," she managed, in a voice that she hoped didn't sound *too* squeaky. "Uh, you're back?" Carol turned around, and smiled. Kerry set the cup down on the counter, and returned the smile hesitantly.

"Kerry, hi. No, I just didn't have a chance to clear out my locker before I left, and I figured I should come get everything while Doug and I are in town. I was surprised that it wasn't *already* cleared out by now, actually."

"Oh... both of you came to Chicago?"

"Yeah. My mom flew out to Seattle with the girls - I think she wanted to see for herself what was going on, after the way I left town so suddenly," Carol smiled. "She's keeping an eye on them out there, at our house, while we're here to get my house on the market and take care of everything else that I left hanging. Uh, you got my letter of resignation?"

"Yes. I was sorry to hear that you won't be coming back, Carol." Carol smiled awkwardly.

"God, I sure left you in the lurch, didn't I? I'm so sorry about that. It was just... talking to Mr O'Brien, I finally figured out that my pride didn't mean anything, if I was gonna be raising Tess and Kate by myself, without their father. Without Doug, you know?" Kerry thought about the prospect of raising Luka's child without him around, and nodded.

"Yeah. How long have you been in here? I'm sure the others must have all kinds of questions for you. I think some of them were disappointed that you left so suddenly."

"Oh. I wasn't even thinking about *that*. Hey, how's Luka doing? He seemed a little down when I last saw him - I wanted to make sure he was okay." Well, it was nice of you to think of that, several weeks after the fact, Kerry thought, but what the heck. "And I didn't see him around when I came in - is he all right?"

"He's all right, but he's not here - he flew back to Croatia."

"What? Oh. I... I was hoping Doug could meet him. He hasn't quit, has he?"

"No, he's planning to return. He just doesn't know when. He has two months off - he's been under a lot of stress lately."

"Oh, no. That's too bad."

"No, no, don't worry. He just... needed to unwind a little. Uh, I was wondering, by the way - how was that 'new' Volvo of yours working out?"

"Oh, it's *great*, Kerry! I'm so glad Luka thought to send Dave car-shopping with me - it took a while for us to find it, but it runs great." Carol didn't mention the interesting time she and Dave had had, that day: she couldn't believe it herself. They'd finally wound up getting sno-cones from the same boardwalk booth where she and Shep had bought sno-cones, several years ago, and she'd become so caught up in the moment that she'd asked Dave to go on the Ferris wheel with her. ("Yeah, right," he'd scoffed, until she had playfully accused him of being afraid of heights. "Afraid? My middle name is Heights!" he'd told her with his usual bravado, even though Carol knew better, and they'd had a pleasant enough ride... uneventful, but she wasn't sure what, if anything, she'd *expected* to happen.) He'd given her an odd look as they returned to her Volvo, but she'd dropped him off at the hospital to pick up his bike, as planned.

"Good. That's good. I was interested in buying it from you, in fact. Unless you're planning on taking it with you, of course."

"No, I'd been wondering what I was going to *do* with it."

"I know someone who might be interested - I'll buy it from you in the meantime."

"Uh, sure. Yeah, that'd be terrific. Thanks... that's one less thing I have to worry about, now." Kerry nodded. She had sold the Saab (and the pictures!) back to Herb the other day - he'd even given her a thousand dollars more than what Luka had told her he'd paid for it - and deposited the money in Luka's bank account. If he decided he didn't want the Volvo, Kerry was pretty sure she could resell it. Or maybe she'd just start driving it herself - her car had broken down again the other day, in the parking garage, and she hadn't had a chance yet to get it towed to the shop. She'd felt a little awkward about the idea of asking Dave to have another look at it; it was one thing for him to have offered, back in January, but the residents were here to practice medicine, not to fix cars.

"You're looking well, Carol - Seattle's obviously agreeing with you." It was true; Carol had a radiance about her that she hadn't had the entire time that she had been separated from Doug. He *still* wasn't anywhere close to being her favorite person, but she had to give him credit for bringing out the best in Carol.

"Um... yeah. It is. It's kinda rainy sometimes, but it's beautiful. Very green and clear. Not much like Chicago, that's for sure."

"That's good. I'm glad you're happy."

"Thank you, Kerry. And... I'm glad Luka's doing okay. I was afraid I might have really hurt him when I left the way I did."

"Hurt--? Carol, how could you hurt him? He was never interested in you!" Kerry's exclamation was instinctive, and she immediately wanted to take it back. But... the thought of Carol thinking - believing - that she'd had *that* kind of power over Luka - that had been too much for her to take.

"Why do you say that?" Kerry sighed. She hated to break cover this way, especially after the way she'd pressured Luka into keeping quiet, but Carol had formed *entirely* the wrong idea about what kind of relationship she'd had with Luka.

"Because he and I have been together since January," she admitted quietly. Doug entered the lounge, carrying a couple of to-go containers from the cafeteria, just as Kerry finished talking, and he looked at the two women quizzically.

"Who's been together since January?"

"I was just telling Carol that she doesn't have to worry about having broken Luka's heart when she left, because he's been with me since January." Doug stared, shocked, at her for a few seconds, and then began to laugh.

"Hey, good one, Kerry. You had me going there for a moment. No, really. Who's been together?" She gave him the Stare of Death, and he quit laughing. "My God... you're really serious. You, and- and- *him*?" Kerry smirked, and folded her arms.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Doug."

"Uh, well, it's just that I always... you know... imagined you married to an anesthesiologist, or something. You're just dating this guy, or have you actually gotten married?"

"Still dating, but we've discussed marriage." That wasn't quite true, she knew - he had *mentioned* the subject a few times, that was all - but he'd backed away from it pretty quickly. She couldn't blame Luka for being reluctant to tie himself down with *her* on a permanent basis. Hell... for all she knew, she could get a letter from him one day, letting her know that he'd decided to stay in Croatia after all, and asking her to send him his stuff. It wasn't as though he had that much, after all, even after the nearly four months he'd been living with her.

Doug stared at her, wide-eyed. "Now I'm *really* curious about this guy. Puts up with *you*, he *must* be some kind of saint. Got any pictures?"

"Doug, just leave it," Carol started to say, but Kerry shook her head.

"No, that's all right, Carol. I have one in my purse." She went to her locker, dialed the combination and opened the door, then reached into her purse for the strip of pictures.

* * *

They'd been on one of their infrequent Official Dates when he'd spotted the photo booth and dragged her over to it. "You want me to do *what*?" She tried to sound indignant, but couldn't help laughing as he fed quarters into the machine - he was behaving like a goofy kid, and his mood was contagious.

"I want pictures of us. I'm happy, you're happy, I want a memento of this evening. Smile." He nudged her to look at the camera.

Snap!

His right hand is caught in the act of pointing, and he's squinting a little as he glances at the camera, a half-smile on his face. She's still looking at him, but laughing, her hands resting easily on his left forearm.

Snap!

He's looking at her again, laughing, his left hand touching her hair and his right hand clutching her hand. She's facing him, but she's glancing at the camera on her left.

Snap!

They're kissing; their lips touching gently, almost tentatively. His hands cup her face, as her hands rest lightly on his thighs.

Snap!

Their kiss has intensified, deepened - his right arm is around her, pulling her close, though his left hand is still lightly touching her face. Her left hand can be seen clutching at his back, and her right hand (although it can't be seen from the angle of the camera) is at his waist.

They continued to kiss long after the camera had clicked for the fourth time, and the strip of photos had been kicked out of the machine's innards; by the time they separated, they were both breathing heavily. What little lipstick Kerry had put on earlier was long kissed-away, and her hands had migrated up to his hair, where they'd nested happily.

She sighed, and rested her head on his shoulder. "Now what?" He watched her curiously, as he stroked her hair - so soft and pretty, and still holding a little bit of the scent of her perfume.

"You've never done this before? I thought these booths were supposed to be some kind of, uh, American dating ritual?" Kerry smiled, and managed to snuggle a few millimeters closer to him.

"I wouldn't know, honestly. I was a late bloomer when it came to dating, and even then..." she shrugged.

"'Late bloomer'?" He wasn't sure what flowers had to do with dating, except that it reminded him that he'd meant to pick a flower to put in Kerry's hair tonight... now that her hair was getting longer, one of the pink morning glories would be lovely in her red hair.

"I didn't date at all until I was in college, and even then, not very often." Though some of those dates had been *very* interesting, to say the least.

"Oh. I--" They were interrupted by a knock on the side of the booth, and Luka briefly poked his head through the curtain to see what was going on. "Somebody else wants to use the booth," he told her when he ducked back inside, and snagged the strip of photos from the slot where it had been ejected. "Shall we?" He offered her his hand, and she took it.

* * *

Kerry passed the strip of photos to Doug, who stared at them intently. "Hey... whoa, this is the guy? This is Luka?"

"Yeah." Doug laughed - a short sound that cut off when he saw Kerry glaring at him.

"I think I met him. Yeah... it was at the Jewel, the day before Easter." He tilted his head and squinted at Kerry. "*Yeah*. He was looking at a picture of you when he was waiting in the checkout line. Right in front of me, in fact. I *thought* it looked like you, but - sorry - from what little I could see of the picture, and from what I knew - *thought* I knew - about you, it seemed pretty unlikely."

"Oh? And what could you see of the picture?"

"Let's see... you looked like you were wearing some kind of dark, short-sleeved blouse with a... a light pink t-shirt underneath?" He looked at Kerry again. "Oh, my God. You weren't." Carol frowned questioningly at him. "An unbuttoned blouse? You *weren't*!" Kerry blushed - she'd had no idea that Luka was carrying *that* picture around with him.

"I'm gonna kill him," she muttered, as Doug handed the pictures back to her. She put the strip back in her purse, and closed the door of her locker.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look... *please* don't say anything about *any* of this to anyone." Doug and Carol grinned at each other.

"Oh, uh, I think it's probably safe to say that it's probably common knowledge - secret romances don't stay secret for very long around *here*, right, Carol?"

"Better believe it, Kerry," Carol told her, still grinning. She'd been vaguely disappointed to find that Luka hadn't been carrying a torch for her after all, but more in the sense that she'd enjoyed the boost to her ego at the time. (And... it had been *nice*, to think that someone that cute was *interested* in her, after what she'd been through.) She was glad that she hadn't hurt him, though: he was such a nice guy and he'd been such a good friend to her that she had been wishing, the last few weeks, that she'd taken more time to say goodbye... to explain her actions to him a little better, instead of making that speech to him that seemed kind of *stupid* in hindsight!

"C'mon," Doug tried to tease, "why *not* make a formal announcement? You could make it now... I want to see who wins the pool that Randi probably has going." Carol elbowed him sharply.

"Stop it, Doug. We won't say anything, *will* we, Doug?." He muttered and looked around the room, but finally nodded reluctantly. "You *will* let us know who won, though, if or when you finally decide to announce that you and Luka are a couple?" Kerry smiled tightly.

"At the very least, I'd have to wait until he returned - who'd believe me?" Doug rolled his eyes, and soundlessly whistled, earning him another Stare of Death... from both Kerry *and* Carol, this time.

"Come on, Kerry," Carol tried to reassure her. "It's not *that* unbelievable--"

"Yeah, and you can always show 'em those pictures, if-- okay, sorry," Doug muttered, as Carol glared at him. "Hey. We're happy for you, Kerry. Really." She smiled.

"Thanks... I think. I need to head back out there - it's a zoo, and there's supposed to be a new moonlighter arriving any time now."

* * *

"ER," Randi snapped into the phone. Ringing off the damn hook today - even the callers knew when they were busy! A heavily accented voice answered her.

"Mees Doctor Keery Veaver, pliss." Randi shifted her gum to the other side of her mouth.

"'Scuse me?"

"I em lookink for... to talk to Keery Veaver? I em Russian, pliss, my English for to speak, no so good. I em... friend Yuri Zhiv-- Zhivko." Weird... Randi could almost swear that when the man had paused in the middle of giving his name, he'd gasped slightly, as though somebody had poked him. *Whatever*.

"Hang on," she told him, and put him on hold as she looked around. Ah... there she was, coming out of the lounge. "Dr Weaver! Some Russian guy on the phone for you, on Line 2. Says his name is Yuri."

"Hm? Oh. Thanks, Randi." She frowned - she didn't know any Russians, let alone any named Yuri - but took the phone and pressed the button for Line 2. "This is Dr Weaver."

"Hey, beba."

"Wh-- uh, Y-Yuri," she stammered. "It's been a long time."

"Too long," Luka agreed. "I can't talk very long, this is an international call, so... uh... how are you?"

"Good. I, uh, got the delivery I was expecting."

"Shto? Oh, your period. That's good... I guess. Um. How are y-- I just said that, didn't I?" He laughed a little awkwardly.

"Mm-hm. How about you?"

"I've been bette-- excuse me." He spoke to someone nearby. "Rekao sam, chu platiti! My brother," Luka explained. "He worries too much!" That comment was clearly directed at both Kerry and Nik, and Kerry laughed. There was the unmistakable sound of a scuffle on the other end, and a different voice came on the line; although she didn't know it, it was the same voice that had asked Randi for her, only with far less of an accent than he'd put on for Randi's benefit.

"Hey, so you're Luka's woman, huh?" Kerry arched an eyebrow at the impudent tone in Nik's voice. "You love him, right?"

"That would be an accurate assessment," she said carefully - she really should have taken the call in the lounge, she could see that several people in the area were trying to be inconspicuous about the fact that they were eavesdropping on her end of the call: her laugh had drawn a little attention.

"Hm." Kerry got the feeling that, if Nikola Kovac were standing in front of her, he'd be eyeing her critically about now, at the same time that he was hmming at her. "I'll hand you back over to my brother, then." The phone changed hands - Kerry could hear Luka snapping something at Nik that produced a laugh.

"What are you wearing?" She smiled at the plaintive question... she remembered him asking a *similar* question, not so long ago.

"My labcoat," she told him sweetly.

"And?"

"Just that." She could imagine his eyes getting very large and eager at that thought. "I can send you the materials, if you like," she offered, aware that Lydia had drifted a little closer.

"You mean... a picture of you... wearing... *just* your labcoat?" His voice was soft, and a little hoarse, and she smiled.

"That's right, Yuri," she told him briskly, and quickly copied the address he gave her, onto a sheet from her prescription pad. "All right. I'll get that to you as soon as possible. Until then, I hope you can make do with the materials you have." He was silent for a moment.

"Oh. How'd you find out I had *that* picture?"

"I'll let you know in my correspondence, Yuri." He chuckled at that.

"Volim te, Kerry." She stretched, and used the motion as an excuse to look around casually, to make sure that the few people in earshot had moved away again.

"Volim te, *Yuri*," she said quickly and quietly; Luka promptly irritated her by laughing again, softly.

"I'll see you when I get back, draga. You got my postcard?"

"Yes! I received that just yesterday. Thank you." The front of the card had had a split picture - the left side was of a town in ruins, and the right showed - presumably - the same one, rebuilt. The caption on the back was "Vukovar: Iz rata u miru".

"You're welcome. We'll... probably be going down to visit our parents, and then, uh, up to Vukovar, for... well... you know, so I don't know how quickly I'll get anything you send. But I'll keep sending you postcards and letters, okay?"

"Yes, I realize that. Until next time, then?"

"Da. See you later, beba. Vidimo se."

"Bye." She hung up, trying to pretend that nothing was wrong... that she hadn't just been hearing a very dear voice that she hadn't heard for a little over a week - a little over a week since he'd left her sleeping peacefully to go catch his flight. She hadn't been able to get any sleep in their bed the last week... she'd been practically camped out on the couch the entire time.

She'd gone to see Carter's grandparents - her *parents*... she was never going to get used to *that* thought, she was sure - shortly after she'd heard from Peter in Atlanta... she'd tried to pretend that she was just there to pick out some clothes to send to John, but Millicent hadn't been having any of *that*. She'd insisted that Kerry stay for a while, so they could talk for a while, privately.

"Hey, Dr Weaver!" Chuny's voice cut into Kerry's thoughts, and she looked up.

* * *

Nick, who'd just finished his tour of the ER with Chuny, spotted Kerry on the phone. Hm... pretty redhead - even prettier when she laughed, as she'd just done. She was wearing a labcoat, so she was probably one of the doctors... this job was looking better and better all the time!

"Who's that?" He pointed at the redhead, and Chuny smiled.

"Oh, that's Dr Weaver. She's been keeping busy because she's missing her boyfriend."

"So she's not available? Pity." Chuny raised her eyebrows at the tone in Nick's voice.

"No, and the guy wouldn't like to come back and find that you'd been eyeing his woman." He smiled at the mildly scolding tone in her voice.

"So he's a very *large* person, then," he guessed.

"Not *big*, the way Malik's big," she explained. They'd encountered the nurse on their way around the tour, and Chuny had explained that Malik was who they sometimes called when there wasn't time to summon Security. "But he's tall, and probably strong enough that if he hit you, you wouldn't forget." Nick raised his eyebrows.

"Then I'll have to make sure I never give him a reason to hit me, won't I?"

"Good plan," Chuny laughed. "Although I should warn you that we've been letting her think we don't know that they're dating." Nick grinned at her.

"That *has* to be driving people around here crazy, sitting on a secret like that."

"We like him. And... she's not so bad, now that they're dating. And I never said that," she added hastily, embarrassed by her blunt comment.

"Said what? I didn't hear you say anything." He glanced over at the desk, and saw Dr Weaver hang up the phone - he saw a pained look flit across her face for a moment, and could tell when she clamped down on it: she wasn't the only one who clamped down.

"Hey, Dr Weaver!" Chuny's call startled both Nick and Kerry out of their respective thoughts. "That new doc is here! I already took him on a tour of the department, where do ya want him?"

"Nick Dennison, ma'am," he said quickly, holding out his hand. She shook it, and gave him a peculiar look.

"You're a little late, but it looks like Chuny's been seeing to getting you settled in."

"Right. Uh, I hope you don't mind, but I took a look at the woman in Exam 1, and called a psych consult for her - she was starting to get restless." Kerry glanced at the board - Exam 1 was one of *her* patients.

"The arm burns? That's not psych."

"I've had some experience - it was clearly self-inflicted." Kerry stared at him, and wasn't sure whether or not to be pleased that he didn't back down. She knew as little about him as she had about Luka, about this time last year - the agency that County used for its moonlighters had the same kind of erratic supply that *any* temp agency had: the last guy had barely been aware of the difference between an Ewald and a Foley.

"All right," she said promptly. "Mrs Chambers is yours. Follow up with whoever Psych sends down. You know how the board works, I trust?" He glanced at it quickly.

"Yeah. I'm not familiar with all the initials, but I'll pick that up quickly. Oh-- and you'd be KW, wouldn't you? I'm sorry I poached." Kerry shrugged.

"Don't worry, Dr Dennison--" He interrupted her quickly.

"Nick." She ignored his interruption, though, and continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"As long as Mrs Chambers gets the help that she needs, you can poach away, as long as you let other people know what's going on." She put a magnet by Joan Chambers' name, to indicate that they were waiting on a psych consult, and replaced her initials with "ND". "While you're waiting on Psych, why don't you take some of the sutures that are waiting, too?"

"Uh... all right, Dr Weaver."

"Good. I'm going to go check on the guy in Exam 4 with stomach flu." Kerry crutched away, and Chuny giggled softly.

"Is she always this warm and cordial to newcomers?" Nick asked her.

"That's just the way she is. She's not too bad to work for. Oh-- hey, but there was that time she wrote a romance novel. She claimed she didn't do it, but I don't think so."

"*Really*. A romance novel, you say? Was it any good?" Chuny shrugged.

"I dunno. I thought the Latina nurse in it was kinda racist, myself, but there were some pretty steamy parts." Nick glanced in the direction Kerry had gone.

"Wow. Now I *am* sorry she's already taken. I don't suppose *you'd* be willing to let me take you out for dinner tonight?" Chuny raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, with such a charming delivery, how can I possibly say no. Oh yeah... 'no'."

"You wound me, Chuny. Really, you do."

"Good thing you're in a hospital, then, huh?" She snickered and walked away, and he shook his head with a rueful smile. Ah well. Now... on to those sutures.

POST-GAME WRAPUP:

Okay, so the "slash-and-dash surgical resident" betting on Carter and Luka refers to exactly who you *think* I mean... I just couldn't resist.

Doug's comment about Kerry marrying an anesthesiologist is, of course, based on the fact that Laura "Kerry" Innes is married to David Brisbin, the man who occasionally plays anesthesiologist Dr Alex Babcock in guest spots on "ER".

"Yuri Zhivko" = Yuri Zhivago... as in "Dr Zhivago"?

"Nick Dennison" first showed up in the draft of another "alternate univERse" tale - the story itself was back-burnered, but Dennison endured.

Also, I was partially inspired to undertake this whole project by a line from the last ten to fifteen minutes of the "Roseanne" series finale (of all things!):