Caught Unawares
Part Two
By Cimerene
cimerene@gci.net

Rating: PG

Thanx: To my beta readers, Cathy and J.R. for their remarks.

Special thanks to Cathy for the title and the fantastic editing and beta reading, for without her, this story would be chock full of grammar errors and inconsistencies! (OK, there are still a few.. but if I had left my hands out of it, I assure you there wouldn't be!)

Spoilers - If you've watched everything up to the season finale (1999-2000 season) then you're covered!

Songs: Moondance by Van Morrison and On the Verge by Colin Raye.

Review:
John excused himself from his date and headed for the men's room. He was sure if he promised to pay Randi well enough, that he could get her to page him, or he could just fake a phone call and tell Sheila that he had checked in and there was an emergency.

As John neared the phone, he noticed the backside of a very attractive redhead, realizing he was staring at her, John quickly looked away to a nearby painting. He was admiring the River view the artist had painted when he clearly heard a woman's shocked voice saying

"Carter?"



Shocked, John looked up to see that the attractive redhead he'd been admiring just a few short minutes before was Kerry. Stunned, John stared at the sight of Kerry dressed in a light green, tight fitting, strapless dress. Overwhelmed almost at the point of speechlessness, it was several moments before he was able to find his voice.

"Dr. Weaver?! You look great!"

'Smooth, John, very smooth.' John sarcastically told himself, sure that after spending hours listening to the high pitch squeal of his date, his intelligence level had been lowered to an all-new level.

A slight smile adorned Kerry's face at Carter's words. She briefly pondered the correct thing to say in response, only to find herself blurting out..

"What brings you here?" She winced at her choice of words. 'Really smart, Kerry,' she internally yelled at herself, angry with her lack of manners. 'Your comments are truly on a genius level tonight.'

"You came here on your date, right? I mean... Are you two enjoying the club?" She asked him.

For the first time since she'd met Carter, Kerry found herself noticing how warm and deep his soft brown eyes were. Nervously, she found herself twisting her cane in her hands, and it was only with conscious effort that she was able to stop.

John remembered how Kerry had covered for him earlier, and quickly came to the decision that it would not be beneficial for their work relations if Kerry knew how he was less than thrilled with his date. After all, she had kicked him out of the ER to go on this farce of a date. The least she deserved was a polite lie.

"Oh, Sheila? She's er definitely an interesting girl." He stammered out. 'Lame John, really lame, she'll never buy that.

He nodded toward the crowded dining room, suddenly saying, "Actually we're at the bar. Are you here with friends?"

"Friends?" Kerry found herself parroting. If John only knew how utterly bored she was, he'd laugh himself silly.

"No, I'm on a, uh...a date," she said quickly, almost too quickly for her peace of mind.

Searching his face, Kerry decided that he must have bought her statement at face value. It wouldn't be good for him to know how the first date she'd had in over a year had turned out to be a farce, a forced arrangement between her and Romano. Date indeed!

"Oh, I'd better let you go then." With Kerry in that dress, John was seeing parts of her that he'd never consciously or subconsciously thought about, and that unnerved him. He was quickly reaching the conclusion that if she knew what he was thinking, she'd make sure that he never worked the same shift with her again.

"Yes. I'll, uh, catch you later." As she walked back to her table, Kerry kept thinking about how handsome Carter looked tonight.



Later at the restaurant bar


Kerry deliberately ate another pretzel, grateful that refills seemed endless. If nothing else, the move from their table to the bar kept her hands busy. So far, she had consumed three bowls of pretzels and was working her way through the fourth, when she realized her date had stopped talking. Hastily, she swallowed, then replied, "You're definitely right, Bob, the ramifications of mass producing bread is sure to add to the overwhelmingly obese population of the world."

While intellectually Kerry might understand, even agree with some of her date's theories, his tone of voice and mannerisms had already bored her enough for a lifetime. She found herself wondering if John and his date were having a good time, if they had ordered the lobster or the oysters for dinner. Choking suddenly, more from her internal thought than because of the pretzel that had gone down the wrong pipe, she airily waved off Bob's off hand comments of 'are you okay' and attempted to pay closer attention to what he was saying.

Finally, after hearing his third speech that evening, on the over consumption of grain, Kerry mentally debated the ramifications of leaving via bathroom windows when she noticed shadows near her barstool.

She looked up to see a beautiful green-eyed blonde woman nearby. She'd known that Carter and his date were supposed to be at the bar, but all the peering in the world had not produced them, until now.

Standing next to her was John, his hands politely placed the correct distance on the small of the woman's back. Kerry felt her eyes narrowing, and it was with a great amount of effort that was able to smile politely at the couple. "Hey, you two." Kerry heard herself saying as Carter nodded politely towards the man who sat next to her.

John noticed that the man who sat next to his ex-landlady seemed entirely too staid and businesslike. He had to be in his early 40's, and the conservative business suit did little to hide his beer gut. In John's opinion, he was not the type that he figured Kerry would have go for, but then who was he to pick out her dates?

An elbow being shoved in his side reminded him of his manners, and he motioned toward his date, introducing her. "Dr. Weaver, this is Sheila Hartman."

"We just came off the dance floor." Sheila's high-pitched voice squealed unnecessarily.

John winced as he ruminated on why he had decided to dance with Sheila in the first place. Since thoughts of Kerry were keeping him from concentrating on his date, John had impulsively decided that dancing would be the perfect solution. He coul be with his date and look for a sign of Kerry at the same time. He'd found Kerry and her date early on, unfortunately, he spotted them at a point in which Kerry had been laughing at something her date had uttered. Even then, John had found himself wondering just what Kerry saw in him.

Kerry nodded in greeting at Sheila and smiled at the welcome interruption. "This is Bob Governs." She motioned toward Bob and continued. "He's the Vice President of Kaltech Pharmacies, and a good friend of Dr. Romano's." Kerry had to make a deliberate effort to stop herself from reciting the medications County purchased from his company.

"Bob, this is Dr. John Carter, one of my associates at County," Kerry said, motioning politely toward John. John nodded, then smiled uncomfortably. A strained silence grew between the two couples. Sheila looked from John to Kerry, then to Bob, and realized that no one would make conversation until she started it.

"Have you two done any dancing yet?" Suddenly her face took on a guilty look as she noticed Kerry's crutch stuck in an unobtrusive spot near her chair. "Oh, that's right, you probably can't dance!"

John had never felt so angry with a woman as he was with Sheila at that moment. He felt his eyes narrowing, and was on his way to a snappy comeback when Bob spoke.

"We decided that Kerry would be better off if we just watched the dancing tonight." His words arrogantly proclaiming to the world what he thought of her disability.

Kerry silently fought back her tears. In all the years she'd been handicapped, she'd never been in a situation quite like this one. She wondered how she could steer the conversation to something else without saying something she was going to regret, when John spoke.

"Actually, Kerry dances quite well. Would you like to show them?" John's eyes appealed to Kerry to say "yes". He was pleased to see a relieved smile light up her face.

"I'd be delighted," she answered, quickly grabbing the arm he offered. As she leaned heavily on his arm, she wondered why her pride had picked now of all times to rear its ugly head.

Dance floor


"I'm sorry." Kerry felt John's soft voice whisper tantalizingly low into her ear. She moved her hands to his chest and moved slightly away from him, enough to look into his face.

"Don't be," she shyly said. "I'm enjoying myself." Then she wrapped her arms around his neck once again while he moved her slowly, yet expertly, through the crowd of dancers. His strong arms were secured around her waist, and unless they had seen her earlier with her crutch, no one watching them now would ever know that she had a disability.

"It's just..." John's voice faded away as he tried to verbalize his thoughts. Sheila had managed within the space of a few seconds to not only embarrass Kerry, but anger him as well. He was still trying to think of a way to relay his thoughts to Kerry when she interrupted him.

"I know." She let her fingers move slightly, unconsciously caressing his neck. She tried not to notice how smooth his skin felt or how intoxicatingly wonderful his cologne was. She let her body meld closer to his, pretending not to notice that John also seemed to be holding her closer and tighter than she would normally have allowed. "I haven't heard this song in years."

John smiled, half of his attention on the words of the song, the other half trying to figure out how to drag the song out so their dance wouldn't end.

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance, with the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance, 'Neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling. To the sound of the breezes that blow.

And I'm trying to please to the calling, of your heartstrings that play soft and low.

You know the night's magic, seems to whisper and hush.

And all the soft moonlight, seems to shine in your blush

"I think I heard it the other day." John replied. "It's a nice song, always seemed more like a poem to me."

Kerry relaxed even more; this was the Carter she was used to seeing. The easy-going resident she remembered had all but disappeared after the stabbing. It was nice to be able to share things with him again. For a while, after his return from rehab, he had seemed almost too distant; more scared and unsure of himself than she was used to. It was a relief to have the old Carter back, she thought.

In a strange way, Kerry found herself having far more fun than she would have expected from dancing with Carter. She wondered if the only reason she was having such a good time was her gratitude at being away from her boorish date. She regretfully noticed the silence that had enveloped the dance floor and started to move away, deeply lamenting the sharp intrusion of reality into her peaceful interlude.

The next song began just as John was leading Kerry back to the bar. It was another slow one, and he quickly moved them back onto the dance floor, reasoning that good manners surely dictated one more dance.

Unsure of himself, he found himself questioning her softly, "One more?"

Moving her hands back to their original position around his neck, Kerry quickly replied, "Well, if you're asking."

Surely by now, Carter knew how much she wanted to get away from her date. She found herself smoothing back a lock of his hair, aware that it probably wasn't the most socially correct thing to do, but unable to resist. "I like your hair better when it's longer. I'm glad you decided to grow it out." She watched as he nodded his head, as if he agreed with her statement.

"It's nice shorter in the spring, as it's usually too hot for longer hair then," he replied. He noticed how pretty her hair looked tonight and wondered if he should mention it or keep silent. Finally deciding to say nothing, he moved her across the dance floor, keeping them as far away from their respective dates as possible.

"Have you known Bob long?" he found himself asking her, then wishing that he hadn't. The last thing he wanted to know was that this "Bob" fellow was someone important to her. He waited for her answer, not sure why the answer to his question was so important to him.

"Not really. I met him in Romano's office a few weeks ago," Kerry replied. "I don't think he's my type." The last part was blurted out, almost as an afterthought. Desperately trying to avoid talking about Bob, she said, "This is a nice song." She tried to think of the artists' name but came up with a blank.

John listened to the music for a few moments, feeling a kinship with the male singers' voice as he twirled Kerry slowly across the floor. "Yes, that's two good songs in a row."

Well they shouldn't have played that good, got carried away and let the music go to my head

Well she shouldn't have worn that dress, the way it twirled around when she was spinning

Just kill me dead.

My heart begin to tell my body and my soul, that it had gotten in the mood to loose control

Oh no, when did neon light turn into moon glow?

When did that juke box turn into a rainbow? I'm about to give into this urge.

One more slow dance, with her arms around me.

One more long glance, nothing will slow down me

I've got no chance, If I'm not in love,

I'm on the verge.



With great reluctance, John led Kerry off the dance floor. They moved toward the spot near the bar where their dates had last been seen and discovered the spot empty. Kerry looked questioningly around the bar, wondering where Bob and Sheila had gone, when the waiter who had served them earlier spoke up.

"They took off. The blonde said something about needing to blow this joint and the next thing I know, the guy's paying the bill and they're leaving together."

Shocked, John and Kerry looked from the waiter to each other in disbelief. Kerry muttered weakly, "We've been ditched?" She stared at John for several moments before her sense of relief overcame her sense of disbelief and she started to laugh.

John felt an overwhelming sense of relief at Sheila's disappearance, but he felt that it was inexcusable for Bob to do this to Kerry. Yet, Kerry's laughter told him that she didn't feel quite the same amount of outrage toward Bob as he did. "You're not upset?" he asked her.

Kerry was still laughing as she reached for her crutch. "John, I've been trying since before the cocktails arrived to figure out how to get out of this date. As a pharmaceutical rep, he's brilliant. As a date, he's about as exciting as a stick of margarine."

John laughed at Kerry's description of Bob. He picked her coat up from the back of her chair and held it out for her.

"How about you? Are you upset? You don't look too unhappy about this turn of events." Kerry said as she slipped her arms into the coat John held, then started buttoning it.

"Remember when I ran into you by the phones?" John saw Kerry smile slightly, as if she already knew the confession he was about to make. "I was trying to get Randi to page me," he sheepishly told her. "If the phones hadn't been out of order, I would have left a few hours ago."

"I was trying to reach Jeannie," Kerry admitted.

Smiling at each other, John and Kerry headed towards the door. "Where to now?" John asked. "Do you want to go home, or would you like to go somewhere and talk?"

My Life is an open book, but finding the right page to turn to could be a bit difficult~

Atkins restart Sept. 17, 00 176/153/124
ERFANFICTIONZONE: http://www.egroups.com/group/ERFANFICTIONZONE
HOME PAGE: http://www.geocities.com/cimerene/
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