Daylight
Part Four
By Cimerene
cimerene@gci.net

Disclaimer:  This fanfic is PG!  All characters belong to the creators of E.R; I have cheerfully borrowed them for a while, and will put them back when I'm done playing with them.

Song: Just between you and me by The Kinleys.  Special thanks goes out to Kacey for her wonderful editing, great sense of humor, and for making sure that John is still John and not Luka, and also for making sure everyone stays alive at the end!

Kerry's house

I've got a feelin' deep inside
I've got a feelin' I can't hide...it's true
Just between me and you

It started in my heart and hasn't stopped yet
And I don't know how big it's gonna get
but it's true
It's just between me and you

Kerry had the music turned up as loud as she could and was singing to it at the top of her lungs. She was also nervously playing with her curling iron. She was getting a bit worried, John should have been here at least 10 minutes ago. They had planned on furniture shopping for his new house and if he didn't show up soon, they wouldn't be able to go at all. The store he had told her they were going to, was closing at 8:00 and it was 7:15 now.  It was only 10 minutes away, but still. She was positive he was still going to show up, well almost positive that is…

Kerry knew she was nervous because she hated being late. A vision of John in nothing but his pajama bottoms came briefly to mind. She decided that had nothing to do with it, so what if John was an extremely handsome man. They were just friends and that's all they would ever be. She ruthlessly excises the vision of John's handsome face from her mind and concentrated instead on curling hair that no longer needed to be curled. She briefly thought of changing her shirt again, but she just knew he would show up at that exact moment.

For one brief moment she had even contemplated wearing a dress, but had decided against it. To many scars, she thought.  She was wearing a wearing a cream colored shirt with a matching set of slacks. The only thing spoiling her outfit, she thought, was her damned cane. Just once she'd like to throw the hated thing out and be done with it.  Instead she grabbed it firmly and used it to help her walk into the living room. 

John had stopped at the florists. He figured that even if it was only furniture shopping, surely proper manners indicated you bring flowers over. I mean didn't they? Of course he had to pick the one florist in the city that was out of kind of roses he was looking for. He wasn't sure why he needed to get that specific color of roses, but for some reason, that's what he had his mind set on. He was lucky in his second stop, unfortunately for him there was also a line of people at the cash register, a line that stretched practically around the store.

Kerry looked at the clock again for the eighth time in the last five minutes. He should have been here by now. She wondered around the living room, finally deciding to read a magazine, knowing ahead of time she would never be able to be interested in it enough to actually read it. She glanced at her watch again. Where is he?



John was not impressed; the florist had taken more time than he had anticipated. He used up a good 20 minutes just getting ready. He called Kerry to let her know he would be late. Panic set in when he got her answering machine, she was either outside, or mabey getting ready and not able to answer the phone. He left a brief message, telling her that he was running late and raced out the door. Still worried that something might have happened, he wondered briefly if she was called back to work. They had talked about going shopping, mabey she didn't want to go anywhere with him, and she would come up with an excuse later as to where she was. No that did sound like Kerry, mabey she just forgot.  There had to be a logical explanation he thought, at least he hoped so. He was still wondering about her whereabouts when he walked out to his jeep and noticed the flat tire.

Kerry's house--- one hour and 30 odd minutes or so later.

Just between us, I've seen us
Together in all my dreams
And when we touch, it's too much
It's electricity
Just between you and me

By the time John had arrived, Kerry had convinced herself that John just didn't want to spend time with her. She kept telling herself that it wasn't a date, but still, he could have at least called. She had grumpily wondered around the house trying to figure out what to do. She contemplated making something to eat, but then decided against it. She was too upset to eat. 

Dammit, why is it always the women who got stood up? She thought to herself. Why did things like this happen to her? Did she have a beacon out screaming 'please stand me up'? She knew that John wasn't called back to the hospital, because she had casually called the E.R. about 30 minutes ago and talked to Mark about a case or two and then had casually asked him if there were any problems. She was positive that if there had been anything that John would have been called back in for, Mark
would have told her, at least that's what she thought when she opened the door.



John knocked on the door, then knocked again, then nearly pounded on the door to get Kerry's attention. He was sure she was in there, afterall, he could hear music. Loud music! 

"You're late!" Kerry told him when she finally showed up at the door. She was using a very tightly controlled yet obvious to him angry tone of voice. 'Dammit,' she thought to herself 'this is not fair, he is so good-looking. He'd better have a good explanation!'  John took a bouquet of Pink roses, complete with sprays of babys breath, from behind his back. Kerry looked from him to the flowers then back at him again completely taken by surprise. 

She smiled at him suddenly. "You're forgiven."

The way he was dressed she figured she could forgive *almost* anything. He looked positively drop dead gorgeous, she thought to herself. He was the only man she knew that could pull off a sweater and still look that dammed good in it. 

"What happened?" She asked him briskly, still slightly miffed at him. She motioning for him to come in, trying not to look to eager to see him. She didn't mention the fact that she had been pacing for over an hour and a half, convinced he wouldn't show up.

"Wait," She said, practically shouting at the level of noise the small stereo was providing, "Let me turn this down." She twisted a knob on the stereo, then walked into the kitchen.

John was shocked at by how beautiful she looked; she was dressed in a some sort of a cream colored outfit, that made her look more elegant than normal, but also sexy as hell! "Didn't you get my message?" he asked her. He quickly grabbed the vase
she was attempting to reach, took it down for her then watched as she filled it with water and proceeded to arrange the bouquet of flowers. 

She placed them on the kitchen table, then looked up at him. "Their beautiful!" she told him quietly. Unaware of how her eyes were shining, she couldn't remember the last time she had felt this way. 'Like a gawky teenager' she thought with disgust.   "What message?" she asked him

John pointed to the blinking answering machine on the counter. "That one."

Kerry blushed. "Maybe I should have turned the stereo down a bit, then I might have, uh, heard the phone." 

John smiled gently at her, then told her teasingly, "Maybe"



Just you and me and a night like this
You take my breath with one sweet kiss...maybe two
Just between me and you

You can call it magic, you can call it love
Call it forever, say you're thinkin' of it too
Just between me and you

20 minutes later, after exploring all the options they could think of, John and Kerry, ended up renting a video and ordering in pizza.

Just between us, I've seen us
Together in all my dreams
And when we touch, it's too much
It's electricity
Just between you and me

John and Kerry were sitting on the couch, touching shoulder to shoulder, both pretending they didn't realize it.  John had spent the entire evening trying not to put his around around her. Kerry had spent the entire evening trying not to look to look at him and they were both failing miserably. 

Kerry hit the stop button on the remote control, and glared at John. "I think that's the last time I'm going to watch that movie.  You did that on purpose!" For a cute guy he has horrible taste in movie's she thought.

"What, rent Aliens? I thought the special effects were very interesting. Remember when the alien came out of the one woman's body, then they had to use the flame thrower on it?"

Kerry quickly placed her small hand against his mouth. "SHHHH, I don't even want to think about that part." She said half jokingly, half seriously, then quickly took her hand away again almost embarrassed at her gesture and more than slightly irritated at John's choices in movies. 

"At least I saw that scene, you had your head stuck under your pillow," he said referring to a small throw pillow Kerry had picked up and started clutching for dear life about 15 minutes into the movie. "I'm pretty sure you didn't see a bit of it." he told her laughingly. He watched a feisty glint show up in her pretty eyes. 

Kerry hit him with the pillow, then placed it behind her back when he tried to take it. "I saw enough!" Kerry she told him, still glaring daggers at him. John being a smart man; he knew when to stop teasing. "Ok, next time I'll get something a bit more fun."

"You'd better," she told him quietly, pretending not to glare. But her mind had already attached itself onto the phrase he had just said. Next time! It had such a nice ring to it.

"I got something for you today." He said casually, almost to casually. He reached over to the small coffee table behind them, to get a small oblong box lay that he had brought in with the videos. He had planned on giving it to her earlier, but had gotten sidetracked when the pizza guy had arrived. He smiled at Kerry slightly nervously, wondering what she would say when she opened it up.

She stared into his handsome eyes, arched her brows slightly, and then looked down at the oblong box. She was curious to know what was inside, she opened it up to find a brand new stethoscope. She looked at him inquiringly.

"I thought you could use this." John told her quietly. 

Her mind instantly flashed back to the day in the lounge when John had picked up her worn out stethoscope, after they had bumped heads. She pulled herself back to the present when John gently placed his hands over hers, and helped her turned it over. On the back, her initials were in engraved in gold. Kerry felt so touched, she couldn't remember when the last time anyone had bought her a gift for no reason. 

John was very surprised to see tears suddenly come into her eyes. 

"I can't believe you got me this!"

"Hey, don't tell me you've never seen one before!" he teased her slightly. Kerry smiled at him, she was almost afraid to speak, for fear of ruining the moment. She breathed in deeply, trying to control her emotions. John watched her touch it gently with her fingertips, he wondered what was going through her mind.

Kerry couldn't remember ever being so touched before. She said softly to him while smiling a slightly wobbly smile at him, not realizing that as she did a stray tear had escaped to trickle down her face. She looked down at the stethoscope for few moments, then on complete impulse reached up and gently touched John's face, delighting in the feel of his cleanly shaved cheeks, then she kissed him. 

John responded more enthusiastically then she expected. Many long hours of wondering were put to an end. Immediately, as if a dam had broke, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him with everything she had. She used every skill she had ever learned or dreamed of in kissing John. Anything to continue that kiss as long as she could.

If Kerry thought it was heavenly to just be near him before, she felt doubly so as she floated on the blissful cloud they created. They broke apart just long enough for Kerry to see a smile on his face. John took full advantage of the situation by kissed her back. This time it was he who was the aggressor, this time it was he who brought the full impact of his emotions to their kiss. When they broke apart that time, Kerry could only utter quietly.

"Oh my!"



This is more than one woman and man
This is greater than the sum of the two

Just between us, I've seen us
Together in all my dreams
And when we touch, it's too much
It's electricity
Just between you and me

Foot notes: Pink Roses mean elegance, grace, and frivolity. They also suggest joy, grace and poetic romance, and in older lore they represent love forthcoming. 

I've also, sigh, suffered through at least a dozen or more viewing of the movie Aliens, just to make sure I had that part exactly right.  I've truly suffered for this fic!

Atkins:June, 13**175/144.5/140
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