Understanding
Part Three - Togetherness
By Cimerene
cimerene@gci.net

Something was disturbing her sleep, but she was so tired. Maybe it was the amount of alcohol she had drank earlier. She felt so content right now, not wanting to move she heard the muffled sound again. Her subconscious finally woke her up enough to realize something was wrong. 

John called out in his sleep, “No, not again.” “NO! Please no”. He muttered. He sounded so sad. So upset. Kerry rolled over and gently placed her hand on his arm, “John,”

“John, It’s ok, your dreaming. Wake up, honey, you’re dreaming”. She quietly said this phrase to him several times, “Wake up. It will be ok. Wake up, it’s not real. It’s just a dream.”

John finally woke up. It took him a moment to figure out where he was. “Kerry?” He said before rolling over and touching her face gently. He watched her for a few   moments, not sure what to say. She was silent for a while, watching his internal battle.  “It takes a while you know,” she said softly. 

“How long” he said just as quietly. 

“How long before I stopped crying in my sleep, or stopped yelling out in fear at 3:00am?” Kerry said, just as quietly. “I don’t have an answer for you. I wish I did.” She was quiet for a few more moments. “All I can tell you is, it will lessen in time. 
The fear will go away and you will eventually realize that you are having more good moments than bad.” Staring intently into his eyes, she said. “It will never truly leave you, but the pain will lessen in time.” 

John was silent for a long while, gently brushing back her hair in a soothing way. “Can you tell me about her?” He said quietly.  Kerry could tell that John needed to concentrate on something else other than his own pain, but she wasn’t sure if now was the right time to talk about her friend. 

“Alisa,” she began quietly, “was so much fun. We were kids you know, just out of college. On a summer break. Convinced we could take over the world.” She was quiet for a long time “We were best friends since high school you know, we saw each other through such hard times.” She looked so serious, so intensely sad,

John watched her intently. “Are you sorry?” Kerry took one look at his face and instantly realized what was going through his mind. “Oh no, John,” she said seriously “being with you was more wonderful than I could possibly have dreamed about.” She blushed furiously. The newness of what was happening between both of them still held her in awe. It still had the ability to render her totally speechless. “How could I possibly be sorry.” With that statement made, she reached up and pulled him down for a very long and very serious kiss.

******** 5:00 a.m. the next day*******

Despite the late night Kerry was up earlier than usual. Thank goodness we don’t have to be at work till 8:00 she thought as she hung up the phone. Being woken up at the disgustingly early hour of 5:00 am was bad enough. Who would have believed that Romano would be to chicken to talk to her himself. Having Elizabeth call her instead, to tell her, her suspension was over. “Chicken,” she said quietly to herself. But having to be quiet for 3 hours was going to drive her crazy. 

She wanted to sing, she wanted to shout, she wanted to crawl back in bed. Inwardly she knew that today would be hard, all the knowing looks all the quiet murmuring in the hall. Kerry sighed, oh well, it’s not like I haven’t heard them before. But she was in too good of a mood to worry or fret. She grinned to herself. John deserved the rest, goodness knows he doesn’t look like he’s sleep lately, she thought as she made a pot of coffee.

Kerry had the kitchen cleaned up and the dishes put away, by the time John woke up. “Hey sleepyhead”, she said laughingly “wasn’t sure if I was going to have to drag you out of bed or not.” John limped out of the bedroom, wearing an absolutely adorable printed sheet. “How long have you been up? Is there any coffee”.  

She laughed, and thought to herself, nothing changes. He still looks absolutely adorable in the morning and he’s still NOT a morning person. She handed him a cup of coffee, and picked up her own cup of herbal tea. “How can you possibly be so cheerful in the morning with only a couple hours of sleep?” he asked, as he took a quick swallow of his coffee. 

Kerry grinned at him lightheartedly “I have good news! Elizabeth just called, seems we’re short 2 attendings, and half the nurses are down with the flu, and Romano told her to call and get me back in earlier than he had planned. Seems he isn’t so glad to be in the “trenches” as he said he wanted to be.”

Taking a quick swallow, he placed it on the counter, before enveloping her in a huge bearhug, “That’s wonderful, Hon,” he looking happy for her. His mood changing to serious for a moment “minus attending's and half the nurses gone? Then I’d better take a quick shower.” He said lightheartedly, obviously the coffee was working its morning magic on him. 

“I also need to stop at my place for a change of clothes before we hit County.” His grin so lighthearted, so much like the old John that she had known for so long. Hard to believe that so much had happened to him. Kerry smiled, “remember that bag of clothes you’ve been telling me forever you would pick up?  Well now would probably be a great time to wear some of them, not that you don’t look great in floral's.”  She grinned indicating his sheet, as John laughingly mussed her hair.  “Now, get! It snowed AGAIN outside and if we don’t HURRY we’ll be late”

“Ok, ok Boss lady”, John replied, as he turned and headed towards the shower.

**********7:50am**********

Mark Greene left the lounge. He had been on all night. Too many traumas and not enough help. This is NOT a great time to be shorthanded. All night long they had had to do “power rounds”, anything to keep up with the influx of patients. Two MVA’s and an apartment fire would have been more than enough on a normal night. Romano had yelled at everyone in site, till even good-natured Luka had told him to back off. That was a site to see Mark had never seen anyone back down so fast. Luka was always good natured, but half sick with the flu, and still trying to do twice the amount of work than normal was taking it’s toll on him. 

Who was he kidding, Mark thought to himself, if we don’t get some attending's and /or nurses in here fast, and Kerry back at her job.  So I can do mine, we are all going to go crazy.  Imagine him sticking up for Luka. Things are going to hell in a hand basket he thought to himself, before picking up another chart. 

“Randi,” he yelled, “perhaps you could get me those reports I asked for over 20 minutes ago”. Randi ignored him for a few more seconds. She was busy arguing with the phone “I said hold! That means hold! It doesn’t mean ask me to transfer your call!  It means hold!” She punched the buttons as she absently handed the forms over to Mark. Before taking time out to mutter at the phone again. “Sorry, Dr. Greene the phones are lighting up like a Xmas tree today.” She sighed then sneezed. Just to go back to answering the non-stop ringing of the phone.

Carol arrived at the admin. desk to drop off some charts. She had heard through the grapevine that Dr. Weaver was due back in. She was curious to see just what her mood was going to be like this morning. She had been there when Romano had suspended her, so she knew how angry Kerry was when it happened. She looked up just in time to see Dr. Weaver and Dr. Carter arrive outside. 

 She noticed that they were both laughing. Both of them seemed to be in unusually good spirits, as they proceeded to have a light snowball fight outside. Randi curious to see what Carol was looking at looked up just in time to see Carter jam snow down Dr. Weaver’s neck. Mark looked over. “Look’s like they are both in a good mood,” he muttered. Carol noticed Carter's grin and thought how nice it was to see him in a good mood. Randi looked at Carter and then at Kerry and thought naw, not possible. But still?  

Kerry jammed a bit of snow down John’s neck, laughing at him as she did so. John laughed and kissed her on the nose.  “Come on” he said. As he opened the door for her. “You’re the one who said we were going to be late this morning, and you started this!” He laughed as Kerry grinned back at him. They chatted laughingly past the admin. desk, and on towards the lounge.  Not once noticing the shocked looks of their colleagues. Randi looked at Carol, and said in her forthright manor.  “Never in a million years, would I have bet on Dr. Weaver and Dr. Carter.” Carol looked back at her and said at the same time, “I would have never have dreamed!!!” Mark looked at both of them for a moment, and then said to himself.   Women you can never truly understand them.

End of Part Three

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at cimerene@gci.net