Instant Attraction, Part 2
Room For Rent
By Miesque
miesque48@hotmail.com

DISCLAIMER: The characters of Luka Kovac and Kerry Weaver are the sole property of NBC, Warner Bros., Amblin Entertainment and Constant C

SETTING: After "Leave It To Weaver"

PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS: Instant Attraction

THANKS TO: Canada and Anonymous for editing and suggestions

Luka was reading the bulletin board in the lounge, taking in the messages one at a time. He noticed one in particular. ‘Room for Rent: Furnished basement apartment, $250/month." Well, it’d be an improvement over living on his boat. He needed to settle down somewhere for a while. Someplace quiet, preferably. 

Mark Greene came in and studied the tall man for a moment. He had not been formally introduced to Dr. Kovac, and he wasn’t sure what to say to the guy anyway. He seemed awfully closed-off. Still, Mark felt obligated to greet him. 

"Afternoon, Dr. Kovac." 

"Luka," he answered, glancing at Mark. "You can call me Luka." He found a piece of paper and scribbled down the address and phone number for the apartment for rent and turned around.  

"Yeah...uh...Luka. You’re from Yugoslavia?" 

"Croatia," Luka answered.  

"Oh...yeah. I thought someone said you were from Bosnia." 

"No. Croatia." He didn’t mean to sound so harsh, so he added a polite smile. 

Mark nodded briefly. "Oh. When did you come to America?" 

"Nineteen-ninety three," Luka answered.  

Mark laughed. "You speak pretty good English." 

"Hardly," was all Luka could give, but he managed a self-deprecating smile. He didn’t feel like talking to Greene. In fact, he didn’t feel like talking to anyone. 

His day had not gone well. Treating overly-talkative kids who didn’t think he was a good doctor: it had irritated Luka. And having to discuss his own experiences with children with that pregnant woman...what was her name again? Carol something... Then delivering a live baby from a dead woman. He’d done that once before, at Vukovar...all in all, it had conjured up unpleasant memories for Luka. But at least Carol had been kind enough to say she thought he was a good doctor. Not that it made for much. He would have preferred, for his ego’s sake at least, to hear such praise from a fellow physician. 

Quickly, he turned back to look at Mark. "Well, I’m going home. See you next time." 

Greene only nodded and watched Kovac leave. Some people just aren’t talkers, he thought. 

Luka had to ring the doorbell twice before there was an answer. He was already getting annoyed by then. It was hot, his back was hurting, and he was starting to rethink this idea. Maybe living on the boat would be a better idea after all. He could leave whenever he pleased... 

He was startled when the door opened and he saw Kerry Weaver standing there.  

"Dr. Kovac?" 

"Yes...I didn’t realize this was your address...I saw the advertisement for the apartment on the bulletin..." 

"Oh. Yes. I have a room in my basement." 

He nodded. For a moment, there was an uncomfortable silence. He could hear loud music playing from somewhere in the back of the house, and he figured that was why she hadn’t heard the doorbell ring the first time. Finally, she cleared her throat. "Would you like to see the room?" 

"Uh...yes. If you don’t mind..." 

"Oh, it’s all right. Come on in..." 

He nodded and stepped inside. Their bodies brushed against each other, but neither would have admitted that they noticed. She did, however, note that the man towered over her. What was he, about six-four? Lean and rangy, like a wolf, but with wide shoulders... She suddenly felt very small beside him.  

She watched as he paused in the hallway, waiting for her to go ahead, and suddenly felt a little nervous about this. Kovac qualified as an attending-it wasn’t like she would be renting a room to a resident, like Carter had been. So there would be no impropriety. Except, of course, that this man was no John Carter. Or maybe John Carter was no Luka Kovac. Either way, the situation was entirely different.  

Ever since she had first met Dr. Kovac, she had been impressed by his calm, unflappable demeanor, and his ability to simply step in, do his job, and not ask for praise or even recognition. There weren’t many doctors out there like that. But she had stubbornly refused to allow herself to get caught up in all the gossiping and speculation about him. The nurses chattered about him all the time, which was natural, she supposed. He was very attractive. But Kerry wasn’t about to be hoodwinked by a tall, dark, sexy guy with an accent.

Luka watched Kerry walk ahead of him, noting that she seemed wary and uneasy. He did his best to keep a distance, to stay out of her personal space. He had sensed her discomfort when they made physical contact there in the doorway, and had almost apologized. But that would have only made her embarrassment more obvious, so he had left it alone. He felt just as wary anyway. It was always best to just keep a distance from people, especially women. Women always seemed to want to help him or-and this was most jarring-get him into bed. He had certainly experienced plenty of that kind of thing during his migratory existence of the past nine years. It was just amazing, how women threw themselves at him. He wasn’t going to let that happen here.  

Not that he expected Dr. Weaver to do that to him. Basically, she ignored him at work, except when absolutely necessary. Still, for some reason, he found it easy to deal with her. They had only worked together a few times on traumas, and he was surprised at how well she listened to him, and at least gave credence to his opinions. He liked her, but had a feeling that other staff members at County didn’t feel the same. He couldn’t understand why, really. She seemed very fair, to him. And, he had to admit, she was rather pretty, in a slightly brittle way.  

Of course, on her own territory, she seemed different. She was wearing a sweatsuit, and she looked like she had just gotten out of the shower. So she wasn’t wearing makeup, which gave her a kind of little-girl look-all bare and exposed. Her hair wasn’t attractive, and he admitted he didn’t like her glasses very much. They did nothing for her delicate bone structure. Walking behind her, he couldn’t help but notice that she had a nice figure. Strange, but her limp didn’t entirely register with Luka until they started downstairs. Then he felt concerned. Climbing up and down stairs probably wasn’t easy for her. 

His instincts told him to help her walk down the stairs to the basement, but he held back despite his urge to get in front of her, to protect her into case she fell down. But again, he restrained himself. Maybe she wouldn’t appreciate him assuming she wasn’t able to handle the stairs. They reached the landing without incident, and she unlocked the door to the room and turned the light on. 

Kerry felt nervous, standing in the middle of the room, waiting for some kind of approving or disapproving noise from him. She felt like she was being visited by royalty, just from the way he was standing there in the doorway. When he came in, she quickly moved aside and back to the doorway.  

It was nothing fancy. The room had a large closet, a full bath, and one small window. A bed, a night table, two old chairs, a chest of drawers, and a desk made up the decor, as it were.  

"Two-fifty a month?" Luka asked, looking around the drab room with a cold eye.  

"Is that too much?" she asked. 

"No, actually it’s pretty reasonable." 

"You would have full access to the kitchen, of course. I don’t mind you eating stuff from the ‘fridge, so long as you chip in for groceries every week. I do have a CD collection, however, that you’re free to sample but you would have to ask..." 

"I don’t even have a CD player," he said, still looking the room over. He checked the closet and the bathroom. He was pleased to see a large bathtub.  

"Oh." Kerry shifted uncomfortably, not sure what else to say. She felt as though she may have insulted him. No...surely not. He seemed like a man who never read anything into what people said besides what they had actually said.  

"But I might get one. I live on a boat now. Too much risk of it getting wet. Or at least causing my electrocution." He turned his gaze on her for a moment, and Kerry nodded, swallowing slightly.  

"Are you still working at other hospitals in town?" she asked, trying to make some kind of polite conversation. 

"Yes." 

A man of few words, she thought.  

"Well, do you like it?" she asked. 

"The room or working at the other hospitals?" 

"The room," she said, wondering if he was joking with her. 

"Oh. Yes. I’ll need two weeks to move in, though," he said. 

"Sure. That’s fine." 

He nodded. "Do I need to make a deposit?" 

"First two months’," she informed him. "But you can do that on the day you move in." 

He nodded again. Kerry felt frustrated suddenly. She had an urge to ask him more questions. She had looked up Vukovar on the internet the night after she had hired him, and had been horrified not only at what she’d read, but also at her own ignorance, and had been unable to continue reading. She had only vaguely remembered reading of the town’s tragedy several years ago, but had not bothered to read the medical testimony...God, he must have been through hell. Well, of course. Vukovar had been a branch division of hell for three months...a full siege, then almost wholesale massacre once the town fell. The hospital itself had been attacked, invaded...patients taken out and executed... 

"Dr. Weaver?" His voice interrupted her thoughts, and she blinked, looking up at him again. 

"Yes?" 

"I have to go. I have just five hours before I have to be at Mercy...so I need some sleep." 

"Oh...yes." She was blocking the doorway, but he had not moved any closer to her. He was still standing there, watching her somewhat warily.

It seemed like he always wore dark grey or dark blue or, in most cases, black. At first, she had thought it was some kind of European lothario thing, but in the past two weeks she had discovered that it wasn’t the case at all. He wasn’t interested, really, in looking good. They were the colors of mourning.  

She moved out of his way, and he walked past her. She caught his entirely masculine scent, but pushed that out of her head very quickly. She felt ridiculous for even noticing that.  

Back in her kitchen, he looked around for a moment, noting the African artifacts on the wall. Spears, masks, carvings, and pottery on the shelves make for interesting-and vaguely unsettling-decoration, to Luka’s mind. Some were very pretty, but the masks were pretty unpleasant.  

"And of course, you can store your own food in the refrigerator and in the cabinets...and any plates..." she said, standing near her CD player.  

He smiled vaguely. "I only have one place setting." He was still staring at the masks, and she sensed he didn’t like them. Strange that Carter had liked them pretty well. Different men, she reminded herself. Totally different.  

"Oh." She looked around the kitchen for a moment, trying to get the conversation back into a less personal area. "However, I would appreciate it if you didn’t hang pictures on the walls in the apartment." 

"I don’t have any pictures," he said tonelessly. "But...I do have a crucifix. Would that be all right?" 

She thought about it a moment. Well, she couldn’t very well say no to that, could she? It would be terribly insensitive. 

"Sure. That’ll be all right. But...no pets." 

He chuckled. "I don’t even have a goldfish. Used to have a canary, but it died last year. Old age." 

Kerry actually found that rather funny. No pictures, no pets, no CD player. What did he do for fun? "Do you have a TV, Dr. Kovac?" 

"Yes, but I don’t watch it much. Just old movies on that channel...what’s it called? AMC?" 

"That’s it. You’ll have to pay for your own cable downstairs..." 

Again, that didn’t seem to matter to Luka. In fact, Kerry figured that little mattered to Luka, so far as his personal comforts and luxuries were concerned. If he had been through half of what she suspected, she doubted that the finer things in life mattered much to him any more.  

"Well, I’ll see you...next time County needs a floater," Kerry said. She extended her hand to him, and he shook it. For some reason, she found herself blushing a little. There was really something very unusual about this man. That mysterious air, and that gentle humor...no, no! She shook her head. You’re acting like a school girl! she berated herself.  

He didn’t seem to notice her blush. He was looking at the masks again, and she observed something like displeasure on his face. But he turned his gaze back to her, and smiled. "Yes. I’ll see you next time." 

With that, he left. Closing the door behind him, Kerry shook her head. He wasn’t like anyone she’d ever known before.  

To be continued...