Dreams In The Mist, Part Two
By Cathy Roberts

A slash story featuring Peter Benton, John Carter, Mark Greene, Luka Kovac,
Dave Malucci and Robert Romano, rated NC-17.

Please see Part 1 for disclaimers

********************************

"Hey, Frank, if anyone's looking for me, I'll be crashed out in Exam One,"
Dave called as he ducked into the room.  The ER had been hopping since
shortly after his shift had begun and he hadn't been able to get the nap he
had so desperately needed during the day.  First there had been the meeting
with Amy's teacher, then Amy had reminded him about his promise to take her
to the Children's Museum and that had eaten up a good portion of their day
off.  Not that he really could have slept long with her home all day
anyway.  But spending time with his daughter, even if it meant giving up
sleep was worth the world to Dave.  It had taken a lot of extra working
hours at walk-in clinics for Dave to get them into a two-room apartment.
It was nice to not have to sleep on the couch all the time, and now Dave
was faced with a bit more funds in savings than he was used to, so he had
thought of getting a car.  Not a sports car like he had been talking up in
the ER, but something practical and sensible.  If his co-workers later
ribbed him about his choice of vehicle he would say he couldn't afford the
insurance on a sporty model.  He wouldn't tell them that he needed a safe
and reliable car in which to transport his kid to her little league games
or cheerleading.  He grinned as he thought about how adaptable his little
girl had become.  Amy was growing up to look just like her mother, a real
looker.  And she was also a real slugger when up to bat.  No one in the
league had her hitting average, no one.  And last year Amy had won a trophy
at the cheerleading competition.  Not bad for a ten year old.

But even if Dave wasn't going to buy a sports car, that didn't mean he
couldn't dream of one, did it?  He closed his eyes and called up a vision
of a car -- a cherry red Mazda convertible.  Sleek and fast.  As he drifted
off to sleep, Dave could see himself behind the wheel of that car, tooling
off down Route 66 without a care in the world.  Just him and...Carter?
Okay, that was cool.  Yeah, him and Carter, racing down the road, not
another car in site; both of them looking cool in dark shades and both of
them equally naked.  Naked?  Where had *that* come from?  But, looking at
himself in the mirror, Dave had to concede that he looked very hot.  All
that work at the gym paid off and he flexed his muscles.  Which wasn't an
easy thing to do with Carter's hands wrapped around his bicep as he admired
Dave's definition.

"Like what you see there, Hoss?" Dave asked with a smirk.

"Oh, yeah.  I like it."  Carter replied and then he was on Dave's lap.
Dave closed his eyes and groaned as he felt his hard cock squeezed as
Carter slowly impaled himself upon it.  Dave's hands left the wheel and he
grabbed Carter's ass, guiding him down and into place.  "Like what you've
got there, Malucci?" Carter asked with a grin.

"Oh, yeah," Dave moaned.  "I like it, I like it."

The smooth road suddenly became bumpy, full of speed bumps and potholes.
Dave's hands frantically groped for the steering wheel, but Carter grabbed
one of them and placed it on his own hard cock.  "Forget about the road,
Malucci.  Make me come."

One benefit of the pitted blacktop was that neither man needed to do much
work in order for them to fuck.  Dave wouldn't candy-coat things by calling
it making love.  He made love to women, not men.  If he was having sex with
Carter then they were fucking, pure and simple.  With every pothole hit,
Dave's cock went deeper into Carter's body, and every speed bump made
Carter move upward.  Dave's hand slowly worked up and down Carter's cock,
and he grinned as he made Carter moan just as much as he was moaning.

"Ever been with another guy?"  Carter asked, his entire body shining with
perspiration.

"No."

"Really?  You do this so well.  So perfectly.  You're good at it."

"I'm good at a lot of things," Dave replied and he bucked his hips,
silencing Carter.

"Has anyone ever wanted you?" Carter asked.

And then they weren't in the car; they were seated on a chair in an exam
room, while another version of Dave tended to a patient.  It wasn't County,
it was a different hospital and Dave vaguely remembered it.  The door
opened and a distinguished looking man walked in, his lab coat pressed and
dazzling white.  He walked over and examined the sutures that Dave was
placing in the head of a drunk.

"Excellent work, Dr Malucci.  Are you sure you won't reconsider my offer?
I'd love to have you working with me."

Dave smiled, but he shook his head.  "Sorry, Dr. Ingram, but plastics just
isn't for me."

"Not enough excitement?"

"Not nearly enough.  Money's good though, tempting.  But..." Dave liked the
adrenaline rush of the ER.  Plastics was dull.

"You've got the talent and the patience for reconstructive surgery, Dr.
Malucci.  I really do wish you'd reconsider.  You'd be amazed at the good
you can do with a talented pair of hands such as yours."

And then they were back in the car.  "You're good, Dr. Dave, too good to
stay in the ER," Carter said.

"I like the ER.  It suits me," Dave gasped as his orgasm neared.   "It suits
me just fine."

Then his world exploded as Dave came, over and over again.  The last thing
he heard as Carter disappeared from the car was a whisper on the wind;
"You're so talented.  Don't waste it."

*******************************

John whispered in his sleep, "...waste it."  A face neared the glass of his
window, but John didn't open his eyes to see it.

*********************************

Usually Luka fell right to sleep after making love with Abby, but not
tonight.  For some reason her reminder about what that crazy woman had said
kept echoing in his mind.  It was all nonsense, Luka thought.  Stupid
ramblings that meant nothing.  But...there was a heavy mist outside, one
that reminded him more of horror movies and not of true love or second
chances.  As he fell asleep, thoughts of the woman Luka knew to be his true
love ran through his head.  His Danijela: friend, lover, wife, mother of
his children.  To say that she had not been his true love was a lie; a cold
lie and Luka didn't want to believe that.

His dreams took him back to Croatia, to the life he led before he descended
into Hell.  Jasna was a happy little toddler, well, a bit past the toddler
stage, but still little.  Marko was a wriggling bundle inside of Danijela
and the three of them were very happy.

Luka was on the floor of his apartment, a horsy for his daughter, her
laughter ringing through the room while Danijela warned them to be quiet or
else they'd wake the neighbors.  And then they were on the coast, walking
through the sand, stopping to build giant castles while Danijela lounged in
the sun.  Next they were on a boat, bobbing on the water, fishing.  Always
Luka and his Jasna, with Danijela in the background watching, never
participating.

The dream turned ugly as the bombs rained upon them in Vukovar.  The boat
gave way to the shambles of Luka's apartment where he struggled for hours
to keep his Jasna alive.  He could have saved Danijela, but he knew that if
he stopped compressions on Jasna, then her heart would stop for good and
she'd be dead.  And so he worked on Jasna while Danijela bled out, his
tears washing away the blood on his hands.  "No," he cried out when he
relived the death of his daughter and he knew then that if Danijela had
been the true love of his life then he wouldn't have let her die while he
pushed on the chest of a dead child.

The apartment faded away and Luka found himself standing on the deck of his
sailboat as it sat at anchor in Lake Michigan.  He had come to America to
make a new life for himself and had done very well.  He missed his boat,
though, and the freedom of being on the water.

"I miss it, too."

Luka didn't turn at the voice, he just stood there while John Carter
wrapped his arms around Luka's waist and rested his chin on Luka's
shoulder, looking out at the lake from where he stood behind him.

"I love you, Luka Kovac."

Luka turned within John's arms and he smiled down at his lover.  "I love
you, too, John Carter.  I wish I hadn't been so blinded by Carol Hathaway
when I first started at County.  When I think of all the time we could have
had together..."

"Shh," John placed his fingers against Luka's lips to silence him.   "It's
no good to get lost in wishes."

Luka's answer was to slowly suck those fingers into his mouth, showing John
just what he planned to do with John's body once he had him below deck.
Their eyes locked, and Luka was once more rocked to his very core as he saw
the love and devotion in John's brown eyes.  He could only hope that John
could see the same looking back at him.  "Come, we need to go below deck
now."

"The sun's setting, Luka."  John pointed out.  "And it's warm out here."

Luka grinned.  "You want to do it out here on the deck?"

Blushing, John nodded.  "Yes."

They were both naked as Luka lowered both of their bodies to the deck.
Moving silently, Luka kissed and nipped his way down John's body, making
his lover squirm and cry out for Luka's touch.  When Luka's mouth engulfed
John's hard cock, John moaned and the sound went to Luka's brain, impelling
him to do all he could to please the man beneath him.  Luka sucked and
licked and played until John finally came, shouting out Luka's name.  And
then Luka was inside of John, thrusting madly as he knew he had to come
inside of John or he would die for the lack of him.  And he also shouted
out when he came, a shout that jolted him awake.

Sitting up, Luka looked beside him and seeing Abby moving restlessly in her
sleep.  She hadn't heard him call out Carter's name -- God, that had been
so sweet, Luka remembered with a smile.  And he felt strangely disappointed
that it was Abby in bed beside him and not John Carter.  Luka stifled a
chuckle as he got out of bed and headed into the bathroom to clean
himself.  To think that he would have a wet dream centered on the man who
was the biggest threat to his relationship with Abby.  But as Luka looked
at his reflection in the mirror he found himself questioning just how it
was that Carter threatened that relationship.  Was it because Luka was
afraid that Abby loved Carter more than she loved him, or was it because
Luka was actually afraid that, if given the chance, he would love Carter
more than he had ever loved anyone else?

**************************

Luka's voice calling out his name rang in John's ears as he jerked upright
in bed.  Sitting there in the darkness he could hear his own heart beating
wildly within his chest and he was suddenly aware that he had come while
dreaming.  John stumbled out of bed and into his bathroom where he stripped
and washed up, then he crawled back into bed, not even bothering with dry
nightclothes.  No one ever bothered him in the morning, so he didn't have
to worry about shocking his grandparents with his nudity.  Rolling over in
bed, John's eyes fell upon the window and the mist outside.  If he looked
at the mist just right, he thought he could make out a face...but he wasn't
quite sure.  Still, the idea intrigued him as he concentrated on that
instead of on the wet dream he had just had about Abby's boyfriend.  The
increasingly cohesive image was the last thing John saw as he fell back
asleep.

**************************

Peter's apartment was empty without Reese or Cleo about.  If asked about
it, Peter would have been the first to say that the silence of being alone
was a good thing because it enabled him to go over his surgical notes in
peace.  The silence gave him plenty of uninterrupted time to read the
journals and catch up on what was going on in the medical world.  Heck, it
even gave him time to read all the issues of 'People' magazine that
collected on his nightstand.  It wasn't a magazine he would have normally
reached for, but ever since Carter had saved the day ages ago with a
procedure he had read about in 'People', Peter had subscribed to it.  Of
course, even if Reese and Cleo had been there with him, Peter would have
still been sitting in his living room in the quiet.  Cleo wasn't much for
staying up and reading and Reese couldn't help being quiet.

The journal was boring and the quiet unnerving, so Peter gave up on reading
and headed for bed.  Years of working odd shifts in the hospital had taught
him how to fall asleep immediately, and this time was no exception.  But
falling asleep in a hospital meant a light sleep, one that could easily be
interrupted for an emergency.  It took longer for REM sleep to find Peter,
but when it did, it took him for a long and strange ride.

He found himself in Jackie's house -- no, it was his mother's house and
Peter could see her through the doorway of the kitchen, moving back and
forth as she prepared a meal.  From the smells Peter knew it was their
Thanksgiving dinner she was making and it made his mouth water.  His mother
stepped into the doorway and looked at him, smiling.  "Aren't you going to
go and get your friend?  I invited him here, Petey, and I meant what I
said."

"Yes, ma'am."  Peter walked out of the house and down the street, not
knowing whom his mother meant.  He didn't have many friends, mostly because
the guys in the neighborhood who were his age were more into girls and
running around, or getting high.  They felt he was trying to 'be white' by
studying and laughed at him when he told them he was going to be a doctor
someday.  Still, his mother wanted his friend to come for dinner and he
would find a friend to eat with them.

The sidewalk turned into the hallway in front of the elevators at County
General and Peter saw Carter sitting nearby, looking dazed.  "Come on,
man," Peter told him.  "My mother's waiting for you."

Carter looked up at him; uncertainty mixed with hope in his eyes.  "You
want me to come to your house, Dr. Benton?"

"My mother invited you, didn't she?"

Carter quickly nodded.

"Then get your things and come on."

Carter grabbed his coat and notebook and, like a puppy, followed Peter all
the way back to the house.  Peter's mother hugged Carter and beamed at her
son.  "I'm so glad you came for dinner.  You're always welcome in my house,
John Carter."

The scene faded away and Peter stood on a slightly wet pavement, his jaw
stinging from the blow that Carter had just planted on him.  He looked at
Carter in disbelief, wondering something so terrible could have happened to
someone so good in such a short amount of time.  And then Carter was in his
arms, crying and Peter held him, stroking his back, kissing the top of his
head, comforting him all he could.  In his dream Peter could say the things
he had only thought back then.  "It'll be okay, Carter, trust me.  They'll
help you there and you'll come back to me alive.  I can't lose you, not
now."

The body within his arms stiffened and then Carter looked up at him, his
brown eyes shimmering with more tears.  "I won't leave you."

"Good."  Peter lowered his head to taste the lips that were so
tantalizingly close to his own and then he and Carter were seated in a
club, jazz music playing all around them.

Carter grinned at him.  "We all know what happens after the jazz club,
don't we?"

Peter grinned back and patted his knee.  Carter moved from his chair to the
proffered seat.  "Yes," Peter said as he began to nuzzle Carter's neck.
"We most certainly do know what happens after the jazz club, and after
journal club and any other club you can think of."

"That feels so good, don't stop," Carter purred, arching his back while
Peter's hand rubbed circles over it.  Peter's other hand was slowly
skimming over Carter's chest, turning his nipples erect and making them his
own personal toys.

"You're mine, Carter.  You've always been mine," Peter said as he turned
Carter's head toward his own so they could kiss.

When they broke apart, Carter gasped a yes and then he was bent over the
table, waiting for Peter to enter him.  And Peter eagerly did so, but he
reined in his enthusiasm, wanting to pleasure Carter as much as possible.
His slow lovemaking was almost agonizing for them both, but it was Carter
who gave in first as he started to babble and beg for Peter to take him
fully.  It was a request that Peter was more than happy to fulfill.

They came together and Peter collapsed upon Carter's back, then found
himself in bed with Carter, curled up next to each other.  "I love you,"
Peter said as he once again kissed him.

"I love you, too," Carter sleepily replied.

There was a light knock on his bedroom door and it opened slightly, just
enough for Peter's mother to stick her head into the room.  She smiled at
them.  "Welcome to my house, John Carter."

"Thank you, Mrs. Benton."

"It's 'Mama', now, John," she gently corrected.  "Now you two boys be good
and quiet so I can get some sleep."

The door closed and Carter snuggled closer to Peter.  "It's good to be
home."

"It's good to have you home," Peter replied, his heart full of joy now that
he had Carter by his side forever.

***************************
When John opened his eyes he saw that he was holding a pillow against his
chest.  It wasn't the warmth of Peter Benton's body, but just a down filled
bag.  John tossed it off of the bed and gazed up at the ceiling, taking in
the fact that it was now morning.  He glanced at his clock and saw that he
had a few minutes before his alarm was set to go off.  He felt as if he
could roll over and go right back to sleep because he definitely didn't
feel rested.  Too many dreams in one night were not a good thing, he
thought as he headed for the bathroom and his shower.  What made it worse
was that all of his dreams had been about men -- men he worked with, no
less, and that bothered him.  But at least they weren't anything he'd have
to share, so there was some saving grace in all of it.

**************************

As John walked into the ER and saw Dave behind the admit desk, he felt
embarrassed over the dream he had had about Dave.  It didn't help matters
any when Dave looked up at him and then quickly looked away, his own face
slowly growing pink.  John said a non-committal good morning, then escaped
into the lounge where Mark was drinking coffee and Luka stood at his
locker.  Shit, this wasn't good, John thought as the memories of those
dreams rushed back to him.  It was odd that each of them looked away from
him and John quickly looked down at his pants, hoping that he wasn't
sporting a woody or something.  Nope, everything was normal down below.  It
was just going to be a weird morning, John thought.  A very weird morning.

And the day became even stranger for John.  At one time he had to call for
a surgical consult and Romano himself answered it.  John was all prepared
to deflect Romano's normal barbs, but none came his way.  Instead Romano
seemed to be watching him and John felt very self-conscious whenever he
caught Romano looking at him.  It was almost as if Romano knew about the
dream John had about the two of them, but John knew that wasn't possible.

When it was time to go home, Kerry asked John to stay as Deb was ill.  John
agreed, not really caring about working another double shift.  The day had
been easy and it would be a relief to be at work without having to look at
the men he had dreamt about the night before.  Just as John was being
thankful that he was spared having to look at Peter after *that* particular
dream, the man appeared before him, looking intense, as usual.  But John
kept away from Peter, not trusting himself to speak to the man.  Hell, he
didn't really trust himself to speak to any of his co-workers, not Romano,
Dave, Mark, Luka or Peter.  And after a day of freedom from any of Dave's
taunts, John was now faced with spending his second shift with the man.

"Since it's quiet, I'm going to get a nap while I can."  John said and he
quickly disappeared down the hallway.

Abby watched John walk away, then hitched her purse higher on her shoulder
before turning her attention to the men gathered around the admit desk.
"It was pretty misty outside last night, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Dave asked, looking suspicious.

Abby shrugged.  "Nothing much.  But didn't Mrs. Tabarek say something about
all of you having dreams or something like that on the next misty night
after she was here?"

Randi nodded. "I remember that.  She said that some would find true love,
some would find the truth, and some would see what might have been while
some would see what might yet be.  And some of you will be given a second
chance." She blew a bubble and looked at Dave.  "So what did you find last
night, Dr. Dave?"

"We're not talking about that crazy prediction again are we?" Robert asked
as he approached the desk.  The truth was that all day he had been thinking
about it, trying to figure out if his dream had been about John Carter and
something that might yet be or about Lucy Knight and what might have been.

"We are," Randi said.  "You were a part of that prediction, weren't you?"

"I was standing here, I doubt if that makes me a part of it all though."
Romano replied.

Abby and Randi exchanged grins as the men fell into an amiable argument
about whether or not Romano had been included in that prediction.  It
didn't miss their notice that none of them were saying just what they had
dreamt about.

**************************

John was only half-asleep when he felt the weight of another body on the
gurney beside him.  He held his breath as he felt a hard chest press up
against his back, a man's chest.  An arm snaked over John's side and the
hand slowly began to unbutton his shirt while warm lips barely touched the
back of his neck.  He tentatively moved one hand back and found a hardness
under the material at the man's groin.  As hot fingers touched his chest,
John sighed and when those fingers brought his nipples to hardness, he
moaned.

"Are you...?"

"Yes," a voice whispered into his ear.  "If you want me, that is."

John nodded.  "Yes.  I'm so tired of being lonely."  He rolled over and
they kissed, their tongues roaming freely, as they tasted for real what
they couldn't really taste in their dreams.  They had opened their hearts
and true love had walked in, making it certain that neither man would ever
be alone again.


The End