A FEW SHORT HOURS
by C

Spoilers: Yes, for "Rampage" (S7E23) but the story itself is speculation. Rated: PG

Yeah we only hurt the ones we love
While...we don't need a reason
You're gonna get all that you deserve
And all that you believe in
"Don't Need A Reason" -- Beth Orton

Dr. Weaver had made more than her share of late-night phone calls to know that it was never good news. As she roused herself from the depths of sleep, she muttered a silent prayer that whatever it was, it wasn't serious.

"Weaver."

"Dr. Weaver?" The voice on the other end shouted, straining to be heard above the blaring music.

"Yeah! Abby?"

"What? I can't hear you!"

"Abby?" Kerry shouted, "What's wrong! Where are you?"

"I'm at O'Reilly's Pub, about 2 blocks away from the hospital!"

"What's wrong? Why are you calling?"

"It's about Dr. Legaspi."

"Shit."

"She's here, she's wasted!"

"Well don't let her drive!"

"We aren't! We were gonna call a cab and she insisted we call you instead!"

"I'll be there in 20 minutes."

Kerry put the phone back in its receiver and dragged herself out of bed. She hadn't slept long, they had all gotten off of their shift a few short hours ago. The rest of the staff went out to celebrate Dr. Legaspi's last day, a going away party, knowing she was the last person Kim wanted to see, she came home and promptly went to sleep.

She threw on her jean jacket, which was lying on the ground over her pajamas. She looked presentable, at least for 2.47 in the morning in her rose silk pajama pants, a white tank top and her jacket, she grabbed her keys and left.

As she drove down the near deserted streets of downtown Chicago, Kerry wondered just why Kim insisted in her appearance. "Please, please, please let her be all right." Kerry whispered as she waited at an empty four-way stop. Her light was red. It was working in the ER, she'd seen so many things happen from drinking, stupid things and silly things which-No! She decided, she would not worry like that. Kim was fine. She was a big girl, capable of making her own decisions. Kerry would just pick her up, drive her to ... drive to Kim's apartment, drop her off, and be done with it. "All goes well," She whispered to herself as she turned onto an empty street, "I'll still have enough time to grab another hour or two of sleep!"

The bar was just down the deserted street, Kerry coasted her car down to the end of the block. She could see three people waiting outside. Kim was standing, her neck craned back, watching the clouds roll back. Sitting next to her on the steps was a male figure, as she got closer, Kerry saw it was Luka, and laying her head on Luka's lap was a sleeping Abby.

"KERRY!" Kim shouted, running across the street to greet her, leaving Luka to follow her. "Kerry! I've missed you." Kim spoke, throwing her arms around her, "And you've missed my party. It was very nice. You missed it. Why?" Kim dropped her voice to a suggestive murmur, "Don't you like me anymore? Don't worry, I know how to get you to like me again!" She made a move to kiss Kerry, but was stopped by Kerry's finger across her lips.

"You'll wake Abby."

"It's OK. Abby's awake," spoke a bleary-eyed Abby, dragging her half-sleeping form to the two women and Luka. If she didn't know better, she would have thought there was something going on between - no, she was just tired. Still, between the rumors of what happened when Dr. Weaver had marched into the men's room after Romano, the fight between Kim and her girlfriend and now this ... Dr. Legaspi should have let go of Dr. Weaver by now...

"Sorry to wake you Abby." Kim whispered loudly, then in a shouting voice "Kerry, Abby came to my party and Luka came but you didn't. Why didn't you? Is it because I said I didn't love you, beca-"

"Luka, will you-"

"Sure Dr. Weaver." Luka grabbed Kim and tried to lead her to Kerry's car, and was met with resistance. Finally, giving up, he merely hoisted her over his shoulder and continued on his way.

"I see you Kerry. I see you too Abby."

"We see you too Dr. Legaspi." Abby shouted across the street, looking at Dr. Weaver, wondering how much she should say.

"Everything's all bouncy. Luka, stop bouncing."

"As you wish." He grunted, gingerly placing her in the passenger seat in Kerry's car.

Abby and Kerry slowly made their way to the car walking side by side, never looking at one another.

"Wow. She's really gone. We were going to drive her home ourselves, Luka didn't drink, but she refused to tell us where she lived, she said to call you." Abby spoke, breaking the silence.

"How much did she drink, and how did she get served like that?"

"I couldn't tell you. She showed up late, hammered out of her mind, when they stopped serving her, she'd get others to get drinks for her."

"And where's Lori?"

"Who's Lori, wait? Tall, thin, brunette, looks like she'd have a massive coronary if a morsel of non-organically grown food entered her body?"

"I suppose, where is she?"

"She took off ages ag-"

"Leaving Kim like this?"

"Dr. Legaspi wasn't this gone, they had a fight-"

"About what?"

"I don't know, I wasn't there, someone said they kept saying your name..." Abby trailed off, digging her hands deeper into her pockets, lifting her eyes from the ground into the woman walking beside her. "About if you meant so much to Dr. Legaspi why weren't you in her bed inst-"

"Yes. Ok. Thank you Abby."

"Is it true?" Abby asked, taking a good hard look at the woman beside her. "It's none of my business, really, but you should know, someone walked by the men's room and thought they heard you say t-"

"It's true." Kerry said, looking off down the street, then back to Abby, "It's true, I don't want to keep it a secret, but I don't want it memo-ed to everyone at County General either. Dr. Legaspi and I are just friends though, I don't want that to-"

"No, no, I know, I was just-"

"Wondering? Yeah."

"Well, congratulations, I guess?" Abby fumbled, as they entered the car door.

"Well it's not like Hallmark makes a "You're out of the Closet" card, but thank you. I guess."

Luka walked around the car to the two women and helped Kerry into the car. "Can you get her home alright Dr. Weaver?"

"Yeah, I'll manage, I'm just going to drop her off at her house, I'll see you two in the morning?"

"No, we have the night shift."

"Alright, drive safe! And thank you for calling me."

With that, Kerry drove off, glancing at the too-quiet Kim, huddled against the car door.

"Are you OK Kim?"

"Too hot."

"Ok, do you want me to open the windows?"

Kim merely nodded. So Kerry opened the windows and let the cool night air blow in.

"Kim?"

"Kerry." She replied with a straight voice and smile on her face.

"Why did you wan-"

"I'm turning the radio on."

"Oh. Sure."

"Hey! Hey! Hey! This is Kay-Jay the D.J. live at Opium Nightclub! If you aren't here, why the hell not! We're playing classic 80's tunes to get your pulse pumping in the morning! If you're going home, don't, it's 3.30, still early! We just heard our own DJ with a remix of 99 Red Balloons, and here's a great one from Prince!"

"Kim, I'm taking you home."

"Really? Why?" Kim asked, hostile all of a sudden, "I'm good enough to lay, but not enough to admit having a relationship with hunh?"

"Kim, that's not-"

"No, it's not! Because you don't even want to touch me, isn't that true? We-"

"Kim you're plastered so I'm not even going to respond to th-"

"Why don't you respond to Romano?"

"I did that for-"

"For me? I'm flattered."

"Don't be sarcastic, I did that for me. Take it as you will. I didn't do it for you because I've learned that anything I do means nothing to you. I mean, you 'appreciate the sentiment' and all, so I did that for myself!"

"That's not true. It means something. Turn left."

"I know."

And that was the conversation for the rest of the ride. In the 15 minutes it took to get from the bar to Kim's house, Kim had fallen asleep, slumped onto Kerry's shoulder, then, in Kerry's lap. She sat like this for a straight 5 minutes in front of Kim's house. Simply stroking Kim's hair, she looked like a child, a halo of blond hair floating around her.

"Kim, time to get up. We're home."

"Muhhmsh."

"Kim, you're home. Is Lori here?"

"I hope not. God my head hurts."

Kim sat up and yawned, letting Kerry get up, Kerry opened her door and crossed over to Kim's side of the door, opening it.

"Do you think you can walk?"

"I'm not that drunk." Kim retorted as she threw her legs out and stood, promptly falling to the ground.

"Oh yes you are. Here." Kerry knelt beside the blond woman on the ground, wrapped her left arm around Kim's waist, and with a grunt, lifted the both of them off the ground.

"Ooof. Well, that's a start. Kim, Kim, how are you doing?"

"I don't feel so good." She whimpered and turned towards Kerry, leaning against her, laying her head on her shoulder. "Kerry I don't feel good."

"I know Sweetie, I know." Kerry began to stroke Kim's back and whispered in her ear, as though she was holding a child. "Come on, we've got to go inside and then you can lie down and you'll feel better, I promise. Come on, can you do that for me?"

"Yes. Cold." Kim whispered but didn't move. So Kerry started to walk towards the front door, with Kim in her arms.

Finally together they made it into the house and together they made it up into Kim's bedroom where Kerry helped her onto bed. Immediately, she fell asleep, with the dim light coming in from the bathroom. Kerry fumbled around the pillows until she found Kim's nightgown. Kerry climbed onto the bed and sat a sleeping Kim up and unbuttoned her blouse, easing it off of each shoulder. She had undressed many a patient in the ER, but this was Kim. This was a woman she had held and who had held her. This was someone she loved. Kerry lowered the silken material over Kim's head and pulled it down to her waist, lowering her back onto the bed, pulling the gown down past her waist, to her knees, then stripping her jeans off.

With a familiar rustling of the down blankets and pillows, Kerry eased Kim under the covers and gently ran the back of her hand down Kim's sleeping cheek and got off of the bed, making her way to the bathroom to shut off the light.

The room was no longer filled with a yellow glow but a blue wash from the window, the moonlight spilling through the open curtains.

"Good night Kim." Kerry whispered, bending down, brushing her lips across Kim's flushed forehead. She then rose and made her way to the door of the bedroom, only to be stopped by Kim's sleep-drenched voice.

"Kerry. Stay. Please."

And it was with those three short words that Kerry stopped and turned around. Kim was speaking from her heart, it wasn't because she was drunk, or alone, it was because she wanted Kerry there.

And Kerry wanted to be there. Wanted to climb into the bed and shed her clothes and just be there, wrap her arm around Kim's chest and just hold her close. So that's what she did, she turned around and made her way into the bed, shedding her jacket and wrapped her arms around Kim.

In a few short hours, Kerry and Kim's world was made right.