Days Like This
Part 3
By Lisa
ERDrLewis@aol.com

Well, I don't have much confidence in number three. It seems awkward to me. Here it is anyway. You know I don't own any of the characters. Thanks to Aly for editing.

We stood there for a few moments in silence, neither of us speaking or even moving. Yes, it was one of those awkward silences everyone tries to avoid. Well, not possible here. Goddamned hospital policy.

"Hmm?" Lucy asked, looking up from the ground.

Ut-oh. Had I said that aloud? Oops. *Well, she's waiting for an answer, Carter. C'mon, be brave. Tell her something.* I mustered up all of the courage I had and stepped closer to her again. "You know what?" I whispered. "Screw hospital policy."

She smiled and pulled me closer again for that kiss she was trying to give me earlier. I don't think I've ever been kissed the way Lucy kissed me before. As I said earlier, WOW. Well, I can say I'm glad I didn't waste my time putting that shirt on.

I started to back up and ran into the foot of the bed. I fell backwards onto the bed, taking Lucy with me. She laughed.

"There ya go," she whispered before leaning down for another kiss.

Just as she started unbuttoning her shirt, my beeper went off. Damn. I looked at the clock to see what time it was. 3:45. I wasn't on for more than an hour. I looked at the beeper and saw it read "911". Why does this always happen to me?

"Who is it?" Lucy asked.

"ER. There's an emergency of some sort," I said, reaching over to the phone just as we heard Lucy's beeper go off.

She went to turn it off while I tried to figure out what was going on. "Hey Jerry, I was just paged . . . oh . . . okay, I'll be right there, thanks."

"What?" she asked.

"Some sort of bus accident. A tour bus of elderly people collided with another one. They're shorthanded down there and need a lot of help," I said, sighing. I didn't know if I could take another bad day. Damn, and it was going so well, too.

Her eyes widened. "Well, then, I guess we'll have to finish what we were doing later," she said, with a sly grin on her face.

I smiled. "I guess so. We better get down there."

What a day. Luckily, only half of the victims were sent to us. Seven majors and sixteen minors. Plus all the normal patients. It was eleven-thirtyish and things had slowed down. I was eating my dinner in the lounge when Lucy walked in. We were the only ones in there. She sat down on the couch across from me.

"So, we still on for tonight?" I whispered.

"I kinda wanted to talk to you about that," she whispered back.

Hmm. "Okay, shoot."

"I'm kinda tired and worn out and I just need a good night's sleep. Is that okay?" she asked, trying not to make eye contact with me.

"Yeah, fine," I said, trying to hide my disappointment. "Can we go get a late breakfast tomorrow?"

All of the sudden, Maggie Doyle walked in and over to her locker.

Lucy jumped back, since she had been sitting so close. "I don't know. Maybe. Listen, I'm going to go get something to eat. Talk to you later," she said, her voice unexpressive. Lucy got up and walked out the door.

Hmm. Something was wrong, I could sense it. I didn't know what though. I wondered what had made her back off so. Had I done something? Maybe she *was* just tired. But then why was she avoiding eye contact with me? Well, all of my questions would probably go unanswered tonight, but we would figure it out in the morning. I hoped.

So, that morning at 10:15, I went over to her apartment. I hoped I wasn't too early. We were on at twelve, so I assumed I wasn't. I wasn't going to call, I guess because of the fear of being turned away. I had stopped and bought bagels, cream cheese, and coffee. Now, here I was standing on Lucy's doorstep. Scared out of my wits. Again. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have cared so much. But this was Lucy. The same Lucy I had had a crush on since the first time I saw her. Sure, I was only half awake, but I knew what I saw. But then she went and got me mad. I got so mad at her because she looked so perfect to me, I wrongly expected her to be. And then she got me mad so often. But now when we work together, she doesn't do that anymore. Then it came to me, how *much* I liked her. No, let me rephrase that. How much I *loved* her. She doesn't know that I'm in love with her yet, but I'll tell her in good time. Eventually. If she doesn't tell me she hates me first.

I looked down at my watch and saw that I had been standing on Lucy's doorstep for fifteen minutes. *I hope she doesn't know that,* I thought, ringing the doorbell.

I heard someone come to the door. "Carter, go away, I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Luce, please can I come in?" I asked.

"No. Go away."

My face fell. So much for that. I turned to walk away, when the door finally opened. "What?" she said.

I turned back around. She was dressed, so I didn't wake her up. "I uh, brought breakfast."

She gave me a small smile. "Come on in."

I came in and set the bagels on the table. We both sat down, across from each other. "Everything okay?" I asked.

She didn't answer. She took a bite of her bagel. "No, everything's not okay. I want to talk to you," she said, forcefully.

Ut-oh. And I didn't have the slightest idea what I had done. This was bad. "Uh, okay," I stammered.

"I was talking to Chuni yesterday and she said that she was glad I hadn't become one of your dumb, blonde girlfriends. Is that what I'm going to be to you, John?" Lucy asked.

Well, she sure surprised me there. Damn Chuni. "No, of course not. I don't care what color your hair is," I said. And as soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing to say.

Lucy threw up her hands, exasperated. "You're missing the point, John!"

See? I was missing the point. "I'm sorry. That was the wrong thing to say."

"What I'm asking is, are you going to be with me just for the sex? Because when I said that a couple of months ago, I was being totally sarcastic."

Ut-oh. I guess Lucy thought that was what all of my dumb, blonde girlfriends were with me for. She was wrong. Just the last one was. And Lucy was *nothing* like Roxanne. "No, of course not!" I exclaimed. Why would she think that? Oh yeah, maybe the fact that I haven't found the courage to tell her that I love her yet.

"How do I know that?" she said, almost on the verge of tears.

"Because," I said. "Because I . . . I . . . I, um," *tell her, Carter,* "uh . . . I better go now," I said, getting up to leave, pretty sure my face was pretty red.

"No wait," she said, getting up also. "What were you going to say?"

Damn it, she knew what I was going to say and put me on the spot. I fidgeted with the plastic lid to my coffee. "Uh. I better go."

"Oh," she said, frowning and looking down at the table. She looked up again. "Well, thanks. For breakfast and everything."

Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore. I just blurted it out. "Lucy, I love you," I said. "I know it sounds crazy, but I've learned to love you. You drive me totally insane sometimes and we always disagree, but I still love you. Lucy, you're the most beautiful, funny, attractive, charming, fascinating person I know . . ." I trailed off as I looked at Lucy and saw that her eyes were practically bugging out of her head. "Uh, I better go now," I said, walking to the door.

"No!" Lucy exclaimed. "Don't go. Please don't go," she said, running over to me. "Please don't," she said, grabbing onto my hand. I turned back around to face her and she grabbed my other hand. She kissed me lightly before saying, "That was the nicest, most thoughtful thing anyone's ever said to me. It was stupid to read so much into what Chuni said. I shouldn't have doubted you."

"Is everything okay between us then?" I asked.

"Very much okay."

Whew. I had saved that one. Now, I just had to reassure her that I wasn't with her just for the sex. Heck, that couldn't be, due to the fact that we hadn't done anything yet. But still, I had to show her that I liked her company too. "Well, then, I'm going to take you out to dinner tonight. Someplace nice. We're off at six, right?"

"Yes," she said, smiling. "So, a nice dinner, eh? Trying to win me over or something?"

"Maybe," I said returning the smile.

"So, where are we going?"

"That, my friend, is a surprise. The only thing you get to know is that I'm going to pick you up here at seven and you should wear something nice."

She just smiled. The truth was, I didn't have the slightest idea where I was going to take her. And the fact that we were on in an hour didn't help. Boy, I was going to have to figure something out.

See? I told you part three would be longer! :)

To be continued . . .