It was a beautiful summer morning. The sun was just cresting over the creek with the brightest of oranges and pinks reflecting off the water to match the early morning sky. A beautiful Osprey flew over head singing his song to the world. The water was calm this summer morning; the only ripples were from the ducks that swam across the surface in a majestic dance that made the surface wave and shine with the morning sun. The world was coming alive with the rising sun. It’s one of the most beautiful times that anybody can witness.

Just up from the creek sat a house with a large back deck that looked out onto the water. The owner of the house, Kristen Amphipolis, sat in the porch swing at one end, slowly swinging, enjoying her favorite time of day with a mug of chamomile tea and a lazy leg propped up on the railing beside her. She enjoyed watching the world come alive around her and the beauty that came with it. She also knew that in a few hours her world would be very different -- again, it would turn to blacks and grays. She had a job to do and soon she would be on a plane to Russia to take care of it. She had a computer disk to retrieve.

Tomorrow would be her one-year anniversary of moving into her dream house. Two years ago, Kristen successfully performed a revolutionary medical procedure at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda. After more than eight hours in the operating room, while everyone else was celebrating the success of the new technique, all she wanted was to get away from the hospital and get some fresh air.

Some hours later she found herself on the back roads in Brandywine, Maryland; it was beautiful back there. Every where she looked she saw trees, farmland and with crops growing, and live stock. She had been on the back road for a half-hour when she saw a For Sale sign. She drove on for about twenty minutes, but just kept feeling like she should turn around and go back to that For Sale sign and look at the property.

She turned onto the drive that would lead her back to apiece of property that would take her breath away and make her feel that her soul had finally found a place to settler down and call home. When she got out of her car and stood at the top of the hill and looked down upon the creek and the surrounding land she fell in love with it. So she bought the twenty acres of land that overlooked the creek that led out into the Chesapeake Bay. She designed her dream home and had it build within a year’s time.

During the past year here, Kristen had started to live again. When she woke up in the morning she enjoyed seeing the world come alive again. She really loved her job at the trauma center; she took over as the Director of the Trauma Unit a year ago. The best part that she loved the most was using her healing skills on a full time basis -- and not using her skills as a killer. Kristen had been part of a special team in the Navy for ten years, but a year ago she left her position. During the time she was employed in her work, she had seen her team members get killed one by one. Now, there was only her, and Adam.

Thinking of Adam made a warm smile come over her face. She could smell the erotic scent from their meeting last night, still on herself. They had been best friends for nine years now. Adam was always looking out for her and she was always looking out for him. They kept each other safe in many ways, but Kristen decided that most people wouldn’t understand their bond to one another.

Around this time last year she had been in the house for a week unpacking boxes and trying to set up her house when there was a knock on the front door. When she opened the door and saw here friends and then heard the warmest voice say to her. "Hello there blue eyes, I thought you could use some help with your unpacking."

It was a nice surprise. She hadn’t seen him in two months, and she missed him. They had always talked on the phone, but it was better to see the person in the flesh. She knew it would be a hard adjustment when she left the Navy. The hardest part was not seeing or being around Adam everyday. She missed him.

They had sat and had lunch that day out on the deck and talked for all most two hours. During her last two months in the Navy, she really didn’t get to see him that much, being stuck behind a desk and really hating it. On their last mission together, she had taken a piece of shrapnel in the right hip and flank and boy was she madder then hell about it.

Adam had a surprise for her that day, as they had their lunch Adam told her he had transferred to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, his whole family was career navy all the way. He explained to Kristen that it just wasn’t the same anymore and now he just wanted to teach he wanted to let the younger men and women do all the hard stuff now.

He would still be her back up man whenever she would go on a mission. John Gray, her ex boss made sure of that. She really liked being asked to go on a job now, rather than being told to go. John knew that they were one of the best teams they had. He made it possible for Adam to have the teaching job at the academy, and made sure there would be no problems with him missing from the base during a mission.

Kristen was very happy for Adam, and it would be nice to know her dearest friend would be so close by and a lot safer. She didn’t make new friends very easily, and Adam had been riding her ass about that for years now. He told her that ‘she lacked in the department of having a personal life.’

As Kristen sat in her swing and thought about this, she had to laugh. Adam was right, of course. She knew people at the hospital, but she never allowed them into her personal life. The only person to ever be invited to her house in the last year was Adam.

It was during his second day at the house a year ago when they were in the basement working on setting up her gym. They had been at it for almost three hours and most of it was done.

She remembered bending over to pick up a set of hand weights that were over by the mirrored wall when she felt warm hands grab on to her hips, she lifted her head up and looked in the mirror and saw the twinkle in Adam’s eyes. He had a half smile on his face and she gave him a smile back.

Adam pulled her hips so her rear end was pressed up against him, and he slowly started to move his hips against hers. He moved one hand to push up her shirt and she took it from there and removed it and her bra followed behind it. While she was doing this his hand went in front of her and in-between her legs and was erotically moving over her center.

When her top half was bare he pulled down her shorts and she stepped out of them and his went with hers. His hand went back to the erotic dance it was doing between her legs.

They were now standing upright watching each other in the mirror. She looked at herself from her black hair to her blue eyes and then down her body and watched Adam’s hands touching her. Adam was taller then her and she stood 6’. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes and his skin was pale to her olive tone. Their eyes locked on one another and they both smiled.

Adam felt his right hand getting very wet, and his left hand went to her left breast. Adams lips meet the soft skin of her neck and a soft moan came from her throat.

The erotic dance started to move to a faster beat and his hands kept the rhythm. Then they laid on the mats on the floor in front of the mirror.

Adam was laying on top of her and he gently nipping her right breast with his teeth, while using his right hand to help guide her legs farther apart. His lips went to her left breast as he slowly entered her and a moan escaped from her.

Adam’s lips went to her neck and then her lips while his pumping rhythm picked up a faster beat that he knew she loved and their kiss deepened.

Strong arms were wrapped around her shoulders holding her in place as their bodies played out their dance.

She heard his voice in her ear whisper to her.

"I want you to come for me blue eyes-- I want to hear you."

Her hips started to move faster with his words and the moans got louder, her breaths were coming in gasps. She could feel herself get closer and closer to her climax.

Adam’s lips went to her neck and bit down as he thrust into her hard and deep, Kristen found herself quickly going over the edge. Adam laid sprawled on top of Kristen while he was still deep within her, both trying to get there bodies to calm down.

Adam was still trying to catch his breath when he said, "That was wonderful blue eyes."

As he kissed her forehead all Kristen could say was. "Yes, it was."

Yes, Kristen thought as she was sipping her tea on her deck, last night was just like it was that day Adam showed up to help her unpack. Over the years Adam always seemed to know when she needed to be touched and how she needed to be touched. She knew it was a short-lived escape from her loneliness and that was fine by her. It made things easier that way.

The sun was up bright and beautiful now and with the last thoughts of Adam she shook her head, ‘Well’ she said to herself, ‘I better get my butt moving I have a plane to catch.’ She went into the house and made a quick phone call to Harry at the Hospital to make sure all the arrangements were good at the hospital for her time away.

Harry Brown was the big boss man at the hospital; the good thing was he was ex-navy also. When she got this job, she and Harry and of course John all had a meeting.

Arrangements were made and agreed upon that if John needed her to go and she agreed to go that Harry would make it possible at the hospital.

Kristen was at the Air force base at eight A.M. sharp, and Adam was already on the jet going over the equipment. Adam always checked and double-checked the equipment before a job. That’s what she loved about him. They made sure they both always returned from a mission alive. They had already lost their friends.

Kristen threw her duffel bag down and walked over to the table and started to set up her laptop. They would go through the lay out of the compound they were going in too later. This was to be a simple in and out to retrieve a classified disk from a person who should not have had it. They were to take out the individual and crash his system. She was of course one of the best computer hackers around, among having many other skills that she was the best at. The one she enjoyed the most now was being a trauma Doctor.

Every time she would go on a mission it brought back painful memories of her team members they had lost over the years. The most painful one was Paul. She was glad that this was only the forth time going on a mission in the past year. The reminders of Paul were just too painful for her and it made her feel like she was just reliving the past over and over again, when she was working at the hospital she felt like her life was moving forward and that felt a lot better.

There was originally six of them on the team; now it was only her and Adam. They were the test group that was pulled together ten years ago by the President and the military higher ups. They have other teams now because of the success of her original team but it was at a high price and cost her some friends.

"Hey Kris, you want to give an old man some help with this?"

"Sure, just gave me a minute Adam-- I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself."

Kristen walked back to the end of the jet where Adam was and helped with the equipment set up and the weapons. They sat and went over there plan for their mission for three hours and then sat down to have lunch. They would go through everything again before they got there and again once they landed. John would send them any new information that he had.

Lunch was spent talking about old times and new times. Of course Adam again got on his kick about her personal life or the lack of a personal life, so he said. Adam was hoping for her sake that during the past year she would have started to live again, maybe go out on a date or go out with a group of friends. Kristen had chosen to keep to herself and that worried Adam and also made him a little mad at his longtime friend.

When Kristen had enough of this conversation she excused herself and went and found a nice quiet spot and a bed to lay down to try to get some sleep. The past ten years just kept going through her head over and over again. Her heart just wasn’t in this anymore. When this mission was over she would tell Adam and John that she just couldn’t do this anymore the thrill of the kill, the thrill of anything anymore was gone. Kristen just wanted a nice simple life now she had done her tour of duty for her country, now all she wanted to do was be a Doctor to save lives, not take them.

When they arrived in Russia they went through the plans again. John had sent the new updated information on the compound and where all the guest were at for the evening, all looked good for a quick in and out job. Adam and Kristen went through the new information on the guard positions and the security system that protected the computer room. Kristen rechecked the computer virus that she was going to unleash on the Russians government computers.

Once the plans were discussed Adam and Kristen left the plane to play the role of tourists, Russia was so different then America. The climate was colder and the people dressed differently, without the cloths everybody would look the same. Kristen really liked the different architecture, their designs were so different then ours. After some hours of site seeing Kristen and Adam headed back to the plane for last minute checks, as soon night fell upon them they headed out.

Things went good as far as getting into the compound things were going great; it was now late at night. The night was black due to the lack of a moon and stars. They couldn’t have asked for a better evening for breaking into the compound. Kristen and Adam scaled the brick wall that surrounded the compound and quietly made there way past all the guards. Once they were inside the computer building Adam cut the security systems that protected this part of the building. Then Kristen and Adam quietly made there way to the computer room.

Once Adam worked through the security system on the door to the computer room-- he went to one side of the room that hold the safe, while Kristen went to the computer. Kristen was sitting behind a computer hacking into the government systems, while Adam was breaking into the safe that was hidden in the wall to retrieve the master disk.

Kristen had copied all the files that were on the Russian government agent’s computer and now she had the virus in the computer system. Adam was having a problem with safe. There was a security system they didn’t know about and Adam tripped it in his attempt to gain entry in the safe. Within moments guards came through the computer room door and Kristen was up and in the middle of a hand to hand combat with five men. In a short period of time she had them all out of the picture. It brought Adam the time he needed to get into the safe.

They were out the door and running down the hallway trying to escape the compound now that their cover was blown. Kristen felt the butt of a rifle hit her across her cheek and she went down from the force of the blow, but for only a second. Kristen watched as Adam stepped up behind the man and killed him. Adam looked over at Kristen after killing the person who had hurt his friend. Adam saw that haunted look on Kristen’s face. It was the look she always got before she went and killed everything that stood in her way.

A large group of men were coming down the hallway; since their cover was blown they could use their weapons. Kristen was up and shooting with her HK-USP at the guards. She took out nine men before Adam could even blink his eyes. She looked over at him.

"Let's get the hell out of here Adam!"

"Right behind you blue eyes."

They made their way down the hall and out into the outside compound and were heading to the fence. Unknown to Kristen and Adam there was a sniper on top of the computer building lining up his infer red scope on Adam. The sniper up on the building took his shoot at Adam and hit his mark. Kristen stopped dead in her tracks after hearing Adam cry out. She turned and watched Adam hit the ground. She looked up and spotted the sniper and pulled her Colt M-4 off her back and with one shot took off the top of his head.

She ran back to Adam. He had taken a clean shot through the shoulder; no real damage that Kristen could see. She helped him up and they ran towards the gates, to the vehicle that was waiting for them. When they had arrived at the compound earlier that evening they left their vehicle on the opposite side of the main gates. Kristen helped Adam into the vehicle and then made her way back to the airfield where their jet was waiting on them. During their whole mission there was to be radio silence but due to the fact that Adam was injured, Kristen radioed the pilot. She instructed the pilot to have the plane ready for take off as soon as they arrived on the airstrip and that there eta was twenty minutes.

Back on the jet Kristen had cleaned and sutured the wound in Adam’s shoulder. While Kristen worked on Adam’s shoulder there was very little conversation between them. Adam was sedated and Kristen was in her doctor mode. When Kristen was done with the repair work on Adam shoulder she left him sleeping in his bed. He would be out for most of the trip back to the states. Once there Adam would be on desk duty for awhile until his shoulder healed.

As Kristen was laying in her bed trying to sleep she kept seeing Adam go down. It was just like Paul. The sniper that time was dead on with his target and Paul was dead before he ever hit the ground. Her last thought before sleep took her was, ‘No more.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they were back at the Air Force base in the US-- Adam was admitted over night at the military hospital. While at the hospital Kristen had her face checked out. She knew it require sutures and the x-rays they took showed that her cheek was fractured from the blow she took from the rifle. The next morning Adam would be released to Kristen’s care and they were headed to her house. The drive back to her house was quiet. Adam was still in some pain and he knew that at some point they were going to have a long talk.

Kristen looked over at him and smiled as she spoke to him. "Hey, did you catch that cute blond nurse checking you out?"

"Um. Actually I did, she was cute wasn’t she, her name is Stephanie-- she gave me her number before I left."

"Good, maybe it’s time for you to go out on a date!"

"Well, I just might call her up and go out-- You know Kristen at least I’ve gone out and dated some women in the past, but you my friend have not dated anybody in nine years. When are you going to start trying to find somebody?"

"Adam, I’ve told you before, I’m happy with my life. I love my job and I meet people all the time, I just don’t date any because I don’t want to!"

Adam watched her face tense up and her tone of voice told him not push anymore.

"Okay, okay I know that’s enough on that topic."

Adam laid back in the seat of Kristen’s car. He turned from watching her drive to looking out the car window. He watched the trees go past them his mind was on the conversations that they had while on the plane. He remembered bits and pieces of Kristen talking to him but with all the drugs in his system he couldn’t remember everything she had said. He knew for the most part she thought he was sleeping while she was talking to him-- but he wasn’t. He felt the pain she was in and knew they needed to talk.

On his third day at the house he was feeling a lot better and it was time to talk. It was early in the morning when Kristen came in to check on him and bring him a cup of coffee.

"Hey there blues eyes," He said as Kristen came into the bedroom

"How’ya feeling this morning Adam?"

"Better... I think we need to talk Kristen. C’mon and sit down here in the bed with me."

Kristen just nodded her head. She knew it was time to talk. Kristen talked to him about her feelings and her wishes to leave the government all the way. Adam understood where she was coming from with these emotions. He had the same feelings. He wouldn’t be able to handle watching her being killed either. He knew that her heart and soul just couldn’t take it anymore. She needed peace before she had no soul left.

Adam knew it was only a matter of time before Kristen would say she had really had enough of it. Over the past two years he’d been seeing the signs slowly coming from her and he was just waiting for her to say the word and today she did.

They both would have a meeting with John sometime within the next couple of weeks, that was for sure. Once their reports were turned in and Kristen had written that she wanted out all the way, you could bet that John would call a meeting. Adam knew that this time no matter what John said to her she wouldn’t back down and leave for good, and he was happy for her. It was time.

The rest of their days at the house were spent enjoying each other’s company; they went for walks and did a lot of talking. Kristen tried not to talk about her life, but Adam kept bringing it up. He wanted her to be happy and she really needed to start going out some and making friends. All he hoped for is that she would find a way to be truly happy again in her life. Find somebody to fall in love with again and bring some real joy back into her heart. Nine years was a long time to be alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kristen had been quiet most of the day. Adam would be leaving tomorrow to go home and she was going to miss him. It was nice to have somebody around the house; it didn’t feel so empty. It was early afternoon and Kristen decided that a shower might make her feel a little better and help the mood she seemed to be in, so she stepped into her shower.

Adam was laying down in bed watching The History Channel when he heard Kristen’s shower being turned on and a smile came across his face.

Kristen was washing her hair when she felt a cold breeze come in the shower, and a smile formed on her face. Adam stepped in behind Kristen and wrapped his strong arms around her waist and asked if she needed some help washing. Kristen smiled and put her hands over Adam’s.

It was early evening and Kristen was sitting out on her deck watching the sun go down. Adam had left for home a couple of hours ago. Their time earlier in the shower was intense. It was a release Kristen welcomed, both trying to reaffirm that they were still alive. The mission to Russia had brought back painful memories of Paul’s death, to both of them.

The sun was slowly making its way down below the treetops, as Kristen sat on her swing sipping her tea. She watched as a lone Osprey fly over the creek. Watching the bird fly in the sky by itself made an emotion pop up in her mind. Kristen laughed at herself, it was an emotion she felt most of the time. She was lonely. She really loved her house and she did feel an inner peace here, but it was times like this when the loneliness really affected her. The house was empty and so was her heart. Kristen had to remind herself that it was her choice to be a loner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was six a.m. Monday morning and nice and quiet in the ER. Kristen’s face was healed enough not to get to many questions from her co-workers. Harry had already told the staff that she was in a car accident last week, which explained the fractured cheekbone and sutures that were in her face and why she was off for the last week. She made her rounds and answered everybody’s questions with: Yes, I’m fine...no it looks worse then it is, etc. etc ... After an hour of this she headed for her office to go through the piles of paperwork she knew was on her desk.

Later, she went to lunch with Harry. She enjoyed having lunches with him when she could. They would talk about business and personal issues of course. Harry was as bad as Adam when it came to her personal life or the lack of her personal life, so she’s been told number of times by both of them. This was going to change soon for her; her heart would be opened to another.

She was back in the ER around two p.m. this time in her scrubs. She really wasn’t a people person but she enjoyed helping people when they were in need. This is how John had managed to get her to go on a job when she was needed. They only had six patients in all in the ER, so she was sitting at the front desk going over a chart and talking to Doctor Dave Dolittle. Dave was a really nice guy and a great doctor but the poor guy took so many jokes about his last name. The nurses would always crack jokes and Kristen had to roll her eyes sometimes and try not to laugh when the nurses were being smart asses.

Kristen had this funny feeling come over her and the hair on the back of her neck stood up, she was sitting at the front desk writing a prescription when she looked up as the ER doors opened.

Jane Ewards, an Emergency Medical Technician (E.M.T) she knew, came through with a partner she had never seen before. A young lady with long blonde hair and the most unique pair of dark sea green eyes she had ever seen. When her eyes locked with the green ones she felt a shiver run down her spine.

Kristen walked over to Jane. "What do we have Jane?"

"Hey Doc Kristen, we have a 25 year old female involved in a motor vehicle accident. The car was upside down and she was trapped for about 35 minutes until we could get her out."

Kristen helped guide the stretcher to exam room 3 while Jane continued to fill her in. She nodded to Dave to follow them.

"Her blood pressure is stable at one twenty over seventy two. Pulse rate is 105...she has good breath sounds bilateral. She has a laceration on her forehead and looks like a left fracture of her arm and shoulder possibly."

Jane noticed the side of Doc Kristen’s face and winced in sympathy for her.

"Um-- nice face there Doc Kristen, what happened? It looks like it hurts."

Kristen rolled her eyes; here she had gone all afternoon without anybody asking about her face again.

"It’s no big deal-- had a little car accident last week, but I’m fine. Thanks for asking."

While they were in exam room 3, Kristen felt something just wasn’t right. She looked over the patient on the stretcher before they moved her to the table but it wasn’t her. While they were moving the patient over Kristen noticed what wasn’t right. The young girl who was Jane’s partner had an injury on her side.

Kristen had noticed the blood on the front of Jane’s partner’s shirt, at first Kristen just thought it was the patient's. While moving the patient Kristen watched as the fabric opened up from the slice that was there. Once Kristin saw it was actually an injury on the young lady her heart sipped a beat. Kristen found herself feeling other emotions also and that confused her. Kristen felt this strange need to personally make sure that the girl was all right.

Kristen asked Dave if he could take over patient care and then she bent to his ear and said something and when he nodded his head she stepped out of the way of Dave and the nurses. Kristen turned towards Jane and her partner and asked them to step out in the hallway with her for a moment.

Once out in the hallway Kristen addressed Jane. "Jane, are you going to introduce your new partner here?"

"Oh-- sorry, sure, Doc Kristen this is my best friend Rebecca. She just transferred to my station two weeks ago."

"Hi," Rebecca said to the doctor.

Kristen held her hand out to shake Rebecca’s hand. When their hands touched they both had this strange feeling that neither of them knew what had just happened between them. They both felt like they knew each other, the touch felt so familiar. They were both left with tingles going through their skin.

Kristen looked at Jane. "Jane, do you mind if I borrow your partner for a few minutes or so?"

Jane gave Kristen a funny look not knowing what she would want with Rebecca. Kristen addressed both of them.

"Rebecca here has a cut on her left side. I would just like to take a look at it and make sure it’s not to bad and clean it up."

Rebecca’s eyes grew wide. "WHAT?"

Jane walked around to Rebecca’s side and looked, yep she could see the slice in the material of Rebecca’s shirt. Jane remembered when she had cut her leg a few months back and didn’t feel a thing due to the adrenaline rush she was on from the call. When she used the bathroom in the ER after the call she was surprised when she pulled her pants down and found a cut on her leg. It took five stitches, when her adrenaline levels went back to normal she found the cut was quite painful.

"Rebecca, give me the clip board-- I’ll go finish up the paperwork in the EMS room while Doc Kristen takes a look at that cut."

Rebecca couldn’t believe she was cut plus she was still trying to shake off this strange feeling she had from the hand shake with Kristen. Rebecca was also trying to understand why she was feeling strange from looking into those blue eyes of Kristen’s. Rebecca handed Jane the clipboard. "Okay."

Kristen looked at Rebecca and smiled.

"Would you mind following me Rebecca?"

Rebecca nodded her head and followed the doctor across the hall to another exam room. When she was in the room Kristen closed the door.

Kristen turned and asked, "Rebecca would you mind hopping up on the table there and taking off your shirt for me?"

Rebecca just stood there staring at the doctor like she was speaking Greek or something, while her face turned a lovely shade of red.

Kristen thought to herself, ‘God, she gets embarrassed easily.’

"Is there a problem Rebecca?"

"Um."

"Rebecca, there nothing to be modest about here. Were both women okay?"

"Um."

Kristen took Rebecca’s arm and lead her to the table. "C’mon, up on the table with you."

Kristen helped her up on the table. Kristen asked for a second time for Rebecca to remove her shirt. While Rebecca was unbuttoning her shirt, Kristen walked over to the counter and grabbed a pair of latex gloves. While walking back towards the table she thought, ‘God this girl is really nervous, it’s just a shirt.’ She shook her head and tried not to laugh at the shade of red the young lady’s face was.

Rebecca had unbuttoned her shirt but did not remove it, and boy was she nervous. She just wasn’t comfortable with anybody seeing her naked. She hated seeing Doctors. She had gone a few times to see one, but it was so embarrassing. They always wanted her to take something off. Steve, her boyfriend from high school, was the only other person who had ever seen her totally naked and that was after dating him for her whole senior, and that was only with all the lights off.

Kristen just smiled and shook her head and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Rebecca. Relax. I don’t bite. There’s no reason for the modesty in here, okay?"

"Sorry. I’m just not used to taking off my clothes in front of strangers and were am I cut exactly?"

"Rebecca, I may be a stranger but I’m also a doctor. I make people take off their clothes all the time. I have to be able to see the wounds. You do the same thing, right?"

"Yes -- It’s just that’s different -- I don’t know, it’s different when it comes to me. It’s embarrassing!"

"Just think Rebecca, one day you might arrive at a scene and I’ll end up as your patient, and you can cut my shirt off, okay?"

"I’ll remember you said that-- if it should ever happen."

"Good, you do that. Rebecca, relax okay? You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before, and you’re bleeding under your left arm, I really need the shirt off. Okay?"

Kristen pushed on the area in question and then started to help remove the shirt; she placed it on the chair next to the table. She stood behind Rebecca and pushed her sports bra up in the back and looked at the laceration just under Rebecca’s left scapular region. Kristen asked Rebecca to lift her arm a little and when she did Kristen noticed another slice through the sports bra. Kristen pulled the bra away a little more so she could see the other laceration that was on her breast.

"Well, Rebecca, looks like you need four or five sutures back here."

Kristen walked around to Rebecca’s front; she had on her serious doctors’ face. Kristen knew that Rebecca wouldn’t like the idea of the bra coming off.

"Rebecca, the sports bra has to go."

"WHAT? Why?"

"Look, Rebecca, you have a laceration on the side of your left breast also. I need to get a better look at it, Okay?"

Rebecca’s face turned red along with her ears this time. Now that she knew she was cut-- it hurt. She sat still for a few seconds debating -- she really wasn’t comfortable with all this but deep down inside some where a little voice was telling her to trust this person.

"Okay."

She reached to pull off her bra. When she moved it over her breast, it really hurt.

"Ow..ow..ow.. That hurts."

Kristen grabbed the side of the sports bra and helped to pull it over Rebecca’s head. She placed it on the chair next to her shirt. Rebecca used her arms to cover herself up; she felt totally exposed in front of this person and it made her very uncomfortable.

Kristen asked Rebecca to lift her arm up over her head so see could get a look at the laceration; she kept her right hand over her breasts. ‘God she’s so modest’ Kristen thought.

"Rebecca, do you remember what cut you?"

"When I crawled into the car with the patient, she was so upset-- I remember hitting a piece of metal, but I didn’t feel it cut me."

"Okay. Well, it’s looks like you’re going to need some sutures here also. You can bring your arm back down now. Let’s get these wounds cleaned up and sutured, and then you can be on your way, okay?"

Rebecca brought her arm back down and helped to cover herself more. There was a knock on the door.

"Hang on," Kristen said as she grabbed a sheet and handed it to Rebecca.

Rebecca put the sheet around herself as Kristen turned and went to the door, opened it, and stepped outside to find Jane standing there.

"Hey Doc Kristen, how much longer are you going to keep my partner?"

"Um. Jane I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave her here with me for awhile. Rebecca is going to need some sutures put in."

Kristen started walking over to the drug cabinet while she was talking to Jane.

"Jane, why don’t you go back to your station and tell your captain what happened. When I’m done with Rebecca I’ll drop her off there on my way out of here. Oh and tell your captain that the doctor said she’ll need to be off the rest of day."

Jane shook her head; she was worried about her friend and now partner. Jane knew that Rebecca really hated been seen by a doctor, she always fought with her mother when she had to go. Rebecca was just lucky that she very rarely got sick.

"Okay, I’ll tell him-- is it bad?"

Kristen shook her head no. "Not too bad, but it will hurt after I’m done with it!"

"Can I see her before I go?"

Kristen put her hand on Jane’s shoulder. "Um-- how about just waiting until she’s back at the station? Right now she’s a little under dressed for company. Okay?" She had a feeling that Rebecca wouldn’t want to be seen in her present state of undress.

"Sure. Um-- Doc Kristen just so you don’t take anything personal, I’ve known Rebecca for a long time and she really hates seeing doctors. You really can’t tell by the way she acts but she’s really shy and she hates being the patient-- she gets really nervous."

"Yeah, I already found that out. Don’t worry. I’m going really slow with her. She’ll be back at the station in less then two hours, okay?"

"Okay. Tell her I’ll see her then. Bye."

"Sure. Bye."

Kristen went to the ER supply room for the items she would need to stitch Rebecca up. Kristen grabbed a suture kit, a box of 4x4 surgical sponges, bottle of Betadine solution and some swabsticks to wash out the wound. The last item she grabbed was a box of Tegaderm dressing to cover the wounds with.

With the supplies in hand, she went back to Rebecca’s room and walked in. Rebecca jumped.

"Sorry-- I didn’t mean to make you jump. That was Jane. She said she would see you back at the station later. Ready to get your sutures in?"

Rebecca shook her head no.

"No, not really. I hate needles. If Jane went back to the station, how am I supposed to get back--just great."

Kristen put the supplies down on the tray by the table and started to set things up.

"Slow down, Rebecca. I told Jane to go back to the station and fill in your Captain, and to let him know that you were now off for the day. I told her I would gave you a ride over on my way home, okay?"

Rebecca took a deep breath. "Okay. That was nice of you. Thank you."

"No problem -- so let’s do this so I can finally get out of here today. I’ve been here since six this morning."

Rebecca watched as Kristen put a fresh pair of gloves on and filled one of the syringes with Lidocaine. God did she hate needles, and that was a large looking one to her. Kristen pulled down the sheet on Rebecca’s back to exposed the laceration.

"Ready? We’ll do the easy one first. I’m just going to numb it now so you’ll feel the Lidocaine sting for a few seconds."

"Great-- go ahead." Rebecca found a nice spot to look at on the door and squeeze her hands together when she felt the needle and the Lidocaine go in.

"Ow,ow, ow. That shit burns."

"I know, sorry-- almost done back here." Kristen tried to go as fast as she could with the Lidocaine. She could see Rebecca’s jaw clench down every time she moved the needle.

Kristen put the syringe back on the tray and grabbed some 4x4’s that she had poured the Betadine solution into and started to wash the area around the laceration and then she grabbed a swabstick and cleaned the inside of it. It felt weird to Rebecca with it being numb, she could feel the coldness but that was it.

The laceration on Rebecca back took six sutures and then she covered it with a three and a half by eight Tegaderm Dressing.

She walked around to the front of Rebecca.

"Rebecca, I need you to lay down for me and bring your arm up over your head for me so I can suture the laceration on your breast. Okay?"

Rebecca looked at her.

"Great-- this really sucks."

Kristen went to help Rebecca lay back on the table, "I know Rebecca. C’mon lay back."

Once Rebecca was laying flat she took Rebecca’s arm and moved it above her head out of the way and then pulled the sheet back to expose her left breast, Rebecca turned her head and looked at the wall.

"Rebecca, relax this is a piece of cake Okay?"

She turned to look at Kristen, her face flushed with embarrassment from being totally exposed.

"Sure, it’s not your boob you’re going to stick with that needle."

Kristen grabbed the syringe off the tray with her left hand and placed her right hand on Rebecca left breast and pushed it up and over.

"I know, sorry-- you ready?"

Rebecca nodded her head yes and turned to look at the wall again.

Kristen started to numb the tender flesh around the laceration.

"Ow,ow,ow,ow. God that burns."

Some tears came down Rebecca’s face with this one; it hurt worse then the one on her back.

"I know it hurts Rebecca almost done. Okay-- that should do the job."

Kristen went though the same cleaning routine as she did on her back.

"Rebecca?"

Rebecca turned and there eyes locked on one another, she almost got lost in the blue she saw there, "Yes."

"I’m going to give you nice tiny sutures so you should have very little or no scar from this Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks."

Kristen put in fourteen tiny sutures in the left breast and then covered it with a Tegaderm Dressing.

"Okay, Rebecca all done. I’m going to get you a scrub shirt to wear out of here so just lay here for a few minutes for me, Okay?"

Rebecca nodded her head. "Okay."

Kristen was back in five minutes with a scrub shirt for her, she helped Rebecca with the sports bra and then let her put her shirt on. She grabbed the last shot for Rebecca off the tray.

"Um, Rebecca you need one more needle and I’m afraid this one well hurt too. Sorry but you need a Tetanus shot."

Kristen walked around to Rebecca’s right shoulder and pulled the shirt down a little and asked, "Ready?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Kristen gave her the shot; Rebecca really did not like that shot at all. But now she was safe and wouldn’t need another one for ten years and she was happy about that.

"Okay, Rebecca you’re all done now. The sutures need to stay in for five days you can either see your own doctor or come here and I’ll take them out for you. Of course you know the sutures need to stay dry and the bandages need to stay on for at least two days. Rebecca, I’ll give you the box of Tegaderm Dressings so you can change the dressing when needed. I’m writing you a prescription for antibiotics for five days to make sure you don’t end up with an infection."

"Okay, sounds good."

Rebecca sat there on the table while Kristen wrote out her prescription. She had watched the way Kristen did things since she came through the ER doors. Rebecca noticed that everything Kristen did had graceful movements to it and that this lady had a self-confident level that went right off the scale and bordered a little on the arrogant side.

She was brought out of her thinking when Kristen asked her a question that she didn’t even hear.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked, what’s your last name?"

"Oh sorry—right, um it’s Daia"

"Well Ms. Daia, I have to run to my office real quick then we can head out of here, okay?"

She handed Rebecca here prescription. "You can come with me or hang here in the ER?"

"I think I’ll just hang here and talk to my friend Sarah. She’s on duty right now."

"All right, I’ll be right back down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Kristen dropped Rebecca off at the station after a very limited conversation between them. Most of the ride was quiet. All the way home Kristen’s mind kept going through the afternoon with Ms. Rebecca Daia. The fact that bothered her the most is that she actually got personally involved, that’s something she hasn’t done in years. She found herself wanting to spend more time with the very quiet Rebecca and this confused her.

The whole time with Rebecca in the exam room she wanted to erase this girl’s pain, and all she had was a couple of lacerations. There was something about this young lady that was really getting to her. Kristen felt it as soon as their eyes met for the first time in the ER. She just kept feeling like she had known this person her entire life and later she would find out that Rebecca had the same feelings.

All these strange feelings were going around in circles in her head. ‘And what is it with this strange feeling I got before she walked into the ER? Why am I feeling like this towards a person I really don’t know? But god, when she took off her shirt she was so beautiful-- so sweet. Oh god I better stop this. I would be arrested for these thoughts, she doesn’t ever look like she’s out of her adolescents yet—she really seems to be a nice kid. I’m sure I’ll run into her again in the ER and we’ll say are friendly hello’s and that will be it-- RIGHT!’

She pulled down her visor and looked at herself. ‘Well, that’s just a lovely looking face to meet someone with-- that really is a lovely shade of black and blue shithead. Well at least Adam took the sutures out yesterday before he left!’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca was sitting in some nice very hot bath water. She was being very careful not to get her sutures wet like the good Doctor Kristen told her not to. She couldn’t get over this feeling of knowing this doctor from some where. She had taken a pain pill when she got home and the Lidocaine had all but left her system, and boy did the side of her breast hurt.

She was supposed to go out to dinner with Tom tonight but as she was laying in the tub soaking she thought that maybe she should call and get a rain check from Tom. He would understand.

She had meet Officer Tom Green two weeks ago at the hospital after a call. They had talked for the longest time outside the ER before both had to leave on calls. They had talked on the phone that evening and the next day and he had asked her out to dinner, just as friends and no strings attached of course.

They had a really nice evening out she had found him to be one of the nicest men she had ever met. They talked for hours that evening and at the end of their date he gave her a small kiss on the cheek. He had stopped by the station at least once to three times a day since that night out to dinner, he was just a really sweet guy.

She had talked to Jane about him of course and found out everything she knew about him and when she gave him a good word, she went out to dinner with him.

Rebecca called Tom after she got out of the tub from her soak. Tom was so understanding about everything and concerned about her. He wanted her to just rest for the night and get better-- it was the most important thing he said. Tom told her he would stop by the station tomorrow and see how she was doing and that they would go out to dinner tomorrow night if she felt up to it.

As Rebecca laying in her bed looking out her window at the stars, she just couldn’t get over how nice Tom was. She thought back to Steve and just shook her head, ‘What did I ever see in him.’ He was her high school sweetheart they had dated for a year and a half. One year at school and half a year after high school, she hadn’t seen anybody in over two years now and it was nice to go out with Tom.

Before Rebecca fell to sleep her last thoughts were of Doctor Kristen. She went to sleep with a smile on her face that she wasn’t even aware of.

Kristen was sitting on her back deck with a mug of chamomile tea watching the sun go down over the creek. Her mind just kept going back to this afternoon and her brief encounter with Ms. Rebecca Daia, if she closed her eyes she could see her perfectly even the parts that she shouldn’t have been looking at except with a professional eye. She shook her head ‘ I really need to stop this, go inside and do your stuff so you can go to bed Kristen.’

An hour later she found herself looking around her house, it was a very large house for one person. She felt alone, some times like tonight the loneliness got to her. She missed having someone to be with, to share the good times and the bad times with. Her bed felt the same way at times so empty and cold she missed having some one to love and to be loved back. She told herself that these feeling were this strong only because Adam had been here for a week, that in time things would go back to being normal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At six a.m. the next morning she was back in the ER. She was glad for no more questions about her injury and it felt like, back to business as usual. By eight a.m. the ER had injuries coming in from a five car pile up on the beltway. The first two had already arrived when she felt that same feeling from yesterday again.

‘What is going on with this?’’

As soon as she walked out of the exam room four, she happened to look at the ER doors and saw Rebecca walk through them.

When their eyes met for the first time they both found smiles on their faces. Kristen walked over to Rebecca and she started with her patient information, this time Jane was quiet. They wheeled the patient into the exam room; his injuries didn’t seem as bad as the first two victims were. While they were moving him onto the table Kristen and Rebecca’s eyes met again and held they were both feeling something going on between them but neither knew what it was.

Rebecca and Jane went to leave the exam room when Rebecca stopped and turned and watched the Doctor do her job for a few minutes and then turned and headed to the EMS room to do her paper work.

Rebecca had been in there for fifteen minutes doing paperwork and then made a phone call. Jane had gone out to clean the back of the unit up and then get some supplies they needed. As she hung the phone up and turned in her chair to get up to leave she was met with a pair of ice blue eyes.

"Oh, Hi Doctor Kristen."

"Um, Hi Rebecca-- I though I would see how the arm and the other sutures were doing this morning?"

"Not too bad-- there sore this morning that’s for sure, but I can live with it."

"I’m glad to hear they're not too bad—um-- listen I was about to go down to the coffee shop. You want to grab a cup of coffee I’m buying, I have a few minutes before they need me again?"

"Yeah sure, that’s sounds good I could use another cup!-- Jane is still cleaning the unit so I have time."

They left the ER and walked down the hallway to the elevator in silence. When the doors opened they walked in, they were the only ones on the elevator. Kristen pushed the floor number for the coffee shop, the elevator started to move there was a silence between them and neither knew how to start the conversation. Kristen was the first one to speak.

"Um, Rebecca that looked like a good accident scene to go on this morning, I know you EMS personnel love a good MVA."

"Um, Yeah it was a pretty good rush this morning. I had just walked into the station when the alarm went off-- I was happy to give up my second cup of coffee for it. I just hope everybody lives."

"Well, from what I saw this morning it looked like everybody was going to be fine. Since you missed your second cup of coffee this morning it’s a good thing we're going to the coffee shop. I’m sure Jane will be happy that your caffeine habit has had it’s fix this morning."

Rebecca let a small laugh escape "Yeah I’m a much nicer person after I’ve had my morning cups of coffee.

"I find that hard to believe-- I have a feeling you're nice all the time no matter what."

It came out of Kristen’s mouth before she knew what she was saying. Rebecca looked up and locked eyes with Kristen. There eyes stayed on one another longer then they had meant to. When the elevator doors opened they both smiled at one another, neither understanding what they were just feeling.

"Um. Lets get that coffee Rebecca."

"Okay, Doctor Kristen lead on."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked back into the ER twenty minutes later with their coffee in their hands. They said their good-byes and Rebecca walked out of the ER to her unit and Jane.

"Okay, Becca I see you went and got your coffee without me!"

"Oh sorry Jane, Um. Yeah Doc Kristen was going down to the coffee shop and I went with her."

"Yeah I’ve gone with her before. She really a nice person after you get to know her. She doesn’t open up very much to people I noticed. Funny in a way when she’s in the ER and in her realm she talks-- but get her by herself out of the ER she’s pretty quiet. Almost shy."

"Really? -- I guess you have a point. Yesterday I thought she was this arrogant Doctor telling me what to do-- but after she put these damn stitches in me and we talked some on the way to the station and this morning walking down to the coffee shop I can see what you're saying. She’s pretty quiet-- she seems to be a really nice person though."

"Yeah she is, c’mon we have to get back to the station."

They got into their unit and headed back to the firehouse. They gossiped some more about the good Doctor and then about Rebecca’s date with Tom that evening.

Kristen spent a couple of more hours in the ER and then she went to her office to eat her lunch and go though the paperwork she was still trying to catch up on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At six p.m. Rebecca was home getting ready for her date with Tom. He had stopped by the station once in the afternoon to see how she was doing and to ask if they were going to dinner this evening. ‘God he so sweet’ She said to herself while putting on a light coat of makeup. Tom was there at seven p.m. with flowers that made a smile come across her face; she could get used to this. Tom walked her by her arm out to his cruiser and then opened the door for her -- Yes this is nice.

They had lovely dinner with lots of conversation about their jobs and more talk about their personal lives. They went to a movie and then Tom drove Rebecca home, opened her car door and walked her to the front door and kissed her on the cheek. They said their good- nights and Tom said he would call her tomorrow. As Rebecca was laying in bed her mind was going though her day. From the quiet doctor to Tom, he was just so sweet. Right before she fell to sleep her mind went to Kristen and those blues eyes. ‘I wonder how her evening went?’

Kristen had gotten home around seven p.m. and boy was she tired, it had been a long day. She was at the hospital at six a.m. again this morning, plus she had had three meetings to go to throughout the day. She was mentally tired as well as physically. As every night she came home to an empty house. She threw her leather briefcase on the kitchen table and went into the cabinet and grabbed a wine glass and went to the refrigerator for the bottle of White Zinfandel she knew was there waiting for her. Then she headed for her bedroom and peeled her cloths off and headed down stairs to the Jacuzzi for a long soak.

As she lay there letting her sore body absorb the heat her mind went though her day... the business meetings staff meeting and then to Rebecca and those eye eyes of hers. She shook her head, ‘What is about Rebecca that keeps getting to me, come on Kris she’s a nice young lady, but too young for you...yeah, but I would really like to know why I get this strange feeling before she walks though those doors? -- It’s strange. I wonder if she has them too?’ Once her wineglass was empty she got out of the tub and headed to the kitchen to wash her glass and then to her bedroom. As she crawled into bed skin now dry from the Jacuzzi the sheets felt cool to her skin, God did she love air conditioning. Her last though before sleep claimed her was of a pair of unique green eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning found Kristen back at the hospital at six a.m. again; she had lunch plans with Harry today and only one meeting to go to.

That same morning found Rebecca crawling out of bed at eleven a.m. She had a date with the laundry and the vacuum cleaner...oh and going to the store. She lived with her stepfather and he was no good at the food shopping so she went every week. She had her laundry in and the house was clean and it was only two o’clock in the afternoon. As she was folding cloths and watching Trauma: Life in the ER the phone rang. Tom was calling to see how her day off was going. Rebecca told him all the wonderful things she had done for the day. Tom laughed and told her that was no way to spend her whole day off and asked her out to dinner. The plans were that Tom would pick Rebecca up around six for dinner and maybe a movie.

Kristen’s day was moving very slowly for her. Lunch with Harry was nice as always, but during the rest of her day she felt like she was missing something. There was more then enough activity in the ER to keep her busy, but she kept looking for something or someone to come though those doors.

Tom was there to pick Rebecca up at six p.m. they had a lovely dinner again, but Rebecca just really wasn’t in the mood for company tonight like she thought she would be. After dinner Rebecca asked Tom if he would mind calling it an early evening that she was really tired, "Sure" he said, "No problem Rebecca I understand."

Tom pulled in front of Rebecca house around forty-five minutes later and turned the car off but made no attempt to get out of the car. He turned to face Rebecca.

"Rebecca, you know you really mean a lot to me. In fact I think I have fallen in love with you."

Rebecca sat there for a second before she spoke.

"Tom-- Um-- you have only known me for two weeks now. I have really enjoyed spending time with you to and I think you’re really one of the sweetest guys I have ever met, but I think you’re moving a little fast don’t you?"

Tom leaned over and kissed her on her cheek and then moved around to her lips. His one hand went behind her neck; the kiss was so soft and sweet at first. Rebecca thought she was in a fairy tale. Then the kiss got stronger and he held her head in place and she tried to pull away but he won’t let her. Rebecca brought her one hand up and pushed on his shoulder and pulled away from him.

"Please-- stop Tom!"

"No, you want this as much as I do."

And he pulled her back into a kiss and his other hand went down to her crotch. Rebecca was really starting to panic now. She pushed him away again.

"STOP!"

"NO!"

And Tom pulled her head over to him again and then started to kiss her again. Rebecca brought both hands up to push him off of her, as she pushed he bite down on her lip. She broke free from him and got out of the car as fast as she could and ran inside her house and locked the door behind her. Rebecca watched Tom pull away from the curb and she started to cry.

Kristen had been asleep for over an hour when she woke up in a cold sweat and her heart pounding. She had a horrible dream. She couldn’t remember it, but she had this feeling something was wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rebecca was glad she was off on Thursday too, she really didn’t want to leave the house. The whole day she stayed in her room, she just laid in bed and watched TV. She was hoping that when her stepfather got home he wouldn’t want to see her. She really didn’t want to lie to him about what happened to her face. She didn’t think her stepfather would handle it to well if he was told the truth. When she was in high school a boy hit her when they were in there PE class and her stepfather wanted to go out and find the boy and beat some manners into him. Her mother stopped him from leaving the house that time, but now her mother wasn’t around to stop him.

After another night with very little sleep Rebecca headed into the station for her shift. The drive there went to fast for her, she was not looking forward to anybody asking her what happened to her lip. Rebecca was sitting outside of the station drinking her forth cup of coffee now. It was a beautiful morning, the birds were singing and there was even a little breeze blowing. Rebecca’s only wish was that she could really enjoy the morning, but the memories from last night just kept haunting her. She had wished it was only a bad dream but looking in the mirror this morning after her shower only proved that it was real. Her lip was a little swollen and around the bite mark was a lovely shade of purple.

Jane had her cup of coffee in her hand and was going to find her friend; she was worried about her. Usually Rebecca was so full of life always smiling and very talkative but not this morning, she just walked in and got her coffee and went outside. The first thing that Jane noticed was her lip, she didn’t want to ask about it in front of the guys so now she was out looking for her friend. She walked around the backside of the station and found Rebecca sitting under the maple tree in the grass.

"Hey Rebecca."

Rebecca jumped a little and looked up, she hadn’t even hear Jane walking over to her.

Jane sat next to her and bumped her shoulder into Rebecca’s.

"How’ya doing Becca?"

"Fine."

Jane shook her head and reached over and lightly touched Rebecca’s lip.

"You don’t look fine-- want to talk about it?"

"I’m fine Jane really-- it looks worst then it is."

"Okay. C’mon Rebecca we have been friends for almost ten years now and it’s my job to be here for you-- so tell me what happened?"

Rebecca looked over at her friend and then back down to ground and started to cry. Jane put her arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"Okay Kiddo—c’mon tell me what happened? I’m listening."

"We were wrong about Tom."

"Rebecca, did Tom hit you?"

"No."

"Okay, start at the beginning."

Rebecca took a sip of her coffee. She was glad Jane was there for her, she really didn’t have to many friends to talk to about this. She had lost her best friend almost five years ago, her mother and god did she miss her. She took another sip of coffee and then started to tell Jane about last night.

"Well, Tom called me in the afternoon and asked if I want to go out to dinner. Well he picked me up around six last night, we had a really nice dinner and then he took me home. Usually when we got to my house he would get out of the car and walk me to the door and give me a kiss and then we would say goodnight. Last night he turned off the car and turned in his seat and told me that he was in love with me, just like that. I told him he was going to fast that we had only know each other for two weeks now --then before I knew what was happening he reached over and gave me a kiss, that wasn’t so bad. But then he held my head and started to kiss me again but this time it hurt. I asked him to stop and he wouldn’t. I tried pushing him away both times. The second time while I pushing him he bite down on my lip-- after that I managed to get free and I ran into the house."

Rebecca looked up to see what her friends’ reaction was, she wasn’t sure that Jane would believe her or not. Jane had known Tom for awhile now and she didn’t want to be in the middle of their friendship.

Jane watched her friends’ face as she told her the story about the date with Tom. She grew anger and angrier by the moment as she saw the pain in Rebecca’s face and heard her voice tremble while trying to talk to her. Nobody should hurt another human like that.

Then her anger towards Tom turned to herself for saying that Tom was a nice guy and telling Rebecca to go out with him. She reached over and squeezed Rebecca’s hand.

"Oh Rebecca, I am so sorry. I had no idea that Tom was like that. If I did I would have never told you to go out with him."

"Jane, it’s not your fault, you didn’t know Tom would be like that. Um-- would you do me a favor and not tell anybody what happened. If they ask about my lip just tell them I fell and hit it please."

"Sure, you are going to stay away from him, right?"

"Oh yeah, I really don’t think he’ll show up here and I think he got the message last night that I don’t want to see him anymore."

They sat out under the maple for a good hour before the fire house alarm went off. The day wasn’t to bad for Rebecca they only had five calls during her shift. She was really glad to hear the Trauma Center’s ER was on re-route. She wanted to see Doc Kristen, but not today. This strange feeling she got whenever she ran into Kristen was puzzling her to no end. But she had this feeling that Doc Kristen would get really upset if she had seen her lip today. She didn’t know why she felt that, but she did and it was a very strong feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a very busy day for Kristen, the ER was packed for most of the day and that meant that she would be there most of the day and not doing the bullshit side of her job. Kristen deep down inside hoped that she would run into Rebecca before the hospital went on re-route knowing that after they were on re-route she wouldn’t see her. She was tired; she was at the hospital at six a.m. again but last night she woke up from a really bad dream. Something was wrong, but she didn’t know what. She couldn’t remember her dream and that really made her mad, but she knew it had something to do about Rebecca.

During the whole day she just had this bad feeling, something was wrong. The ER being packed kept her mind off of this feeling for the most part, but every once in awhile the uneasiness would find its way back.

In the afternoon she received a phone call from Adam, after having this bad feeling all day and not seeing Rebecca at all she was glad to hear from him. She was glad to hear that his shoulder was doing just fine and healing great. She knew the reason he was calling.

Sure enough John wanted to have a meeting tomorrow afternoon and he was even going to treat them to lunch. Kristen just rolled her eyes when Adam told her this. The plans were made and then Kristen went back to work in her busy ER that had been on re-route now for three hours.

Throughout the day her mind went to Rebecca. She was worried and didn’t know way. She finally left the ER for home around seven thirty, she was tired and just wanted to crawl in bed.

Rebecca’s day went by fast as well. They were busy with calls all day. She was glad that the Trauma Centers ER was on re-route and that they had no trauma priority ones that would still go there, she really didn’t want to run into Kristen looking like this.

Her and Jane stayed up some during the night at the station talking about this past week. The good thing was that it was a very quiet night and she and Jane got some sleep, the morning would come far to soon.

Saturday morning came with the alarm going off at six thirty and she and Jane were out the door. After the call they stopped at Denny’s and grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed back to the station. The rest of the day was spent outside of the station, the grass was cut and the trash was picked up. They had only had six calls by the time dinner rolled around.

Kristen day started around six in the morning, she was up and in the gym working out. After her shower she found herself out on her swing with her mug of chamomile tea watching the sky change colors. Kristen was not looking forward to her lunch today with John.

At one o’clock she was at the restaurant with Adam waiting for John to show up. They were talking about the date that Adam had with that nurse from the hospital when John came walking in.

They were in the restaurant for two-hour talking about her decision and things went better then she thought. John was fine with her decision about totally wanting out. Her and Adam knew that he would probably try at some point to get her to go on a mission. The good thing was John wasn’t pushing anything on her and she was thankful for that and so was Adam.

After her lunch Kristen headed home to catch up on some house cleaning and yard work. Years ago if anybody had said to her that she would be doing yard work and liking it she would have laughed in his or her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning rolled around and found Kristen in the ER at seven. She wasn’t really sure why she was there but she had this feeling that she needed to be there. She was sitting at the front desk when she got that strange feeling again and she smiled. Maybe that’s why she felt like she needed to be here? Right before the doors opened to show Rebecca walking in she had that uneasiness feeling come back to her. As soon as she saw Rebecca she knew why she had felt it.

Rebecca and Jane were on the way to the ER with an elderly man who was on his way to church and had a car accident. The station alarm went off at six thirty with the call; Jane was a little pissed she had plans this morning with her boyfriend after she got off duty at eight. Rebecca just wanted to go home.

When they pulled into the emergency room Rebecca got that funny feeling again. This was beginning to really puzzle her. ‘Last time I felt this Kristen was in the ER, oh no it’s Sunday she’s not supposed to be here today. Great my lip still looks like crap.’

The ER doors opened and Jane and Rebecca came walking through with their patient. Rebecca looked to her right and saw Kristen sitting at the front desk. She couldn’t help herself a smile came over her face.

Kristen watched as Doctor Spice walked over to them and then headed into room five with them. Kristen was hoping that Rebecca would come over and talk to her when she was done with their patient. A few minutes later Rebecca came out of the room and started to walk over towards her. Their eyes locked on one another. As soon as Kristen saw Rebecca’s face again her happiness was replaced with concern.

"Hey Doc Kristen. How are you? I didn’t think I would see you here today."

"Um yeah, I decided to come in today and check on things."

Jane was walking towards then and for the first time she noticed something in the air between them. Jane really watched the two as she got closer to them. ‘Yep, there is something happening here.’ She felt like she was watching the beginning of something special between her two friends. She hoped that Doc Kristen wouldn’t ask about Rebecca’s lip.

"Hey guys-- Doc Kristen shouldn’t you be home or something on a Sunday morning?"

"Probably so. I went out for a morning drive and ended up here so I thought I would see how things were going in here." It was close enough to the truth.

Jane looked over at Rebecca.

"Rebecca I’m going to the EMS room to do my report, why don’t you and Doc Kristen go down to the coffee shop and get a cup of coffee. I’m afraid to drive back to the station with you until you have at least one cup of coffee. Oh while you’re down there get me one too!"

Jane turned with a big smile on her face and started walking to the EMS room before Rebecca could even give her an answer. Rebecca looked from Jane to Kristen.

"Um, what do you say Doc you up for a cup of coffee?"

"Sure."

They stepped into the elevator and Kristen pushed the number they needed for the coffee shop. Rebecca was glad so far that Kristen hadn’t asked about her lip yet, she saw Kristen's face change when she first noticed it. She looked over at Kristen and knew that she was going to ask something.

"Rebecca how are your cuts doing? Any problems with getting the sutures out-- did they heal up okay?"

"Um..."

Rebecca looked away from Kristen; this was not the question she was expecting. She knew she was supposed to get the sutures out the other day. But one she didn’t have a doctor and two with everything with Tom she just hadn’t given them a second thought until now.

"Ms. Daia-- you did get the sutures taken out right?"

Rebecca wouldn’t look Kristen in the eyes, so Kristen already knew the answer.

"Rebecca, I see there still in-- humm!"

"Um-- yeah I just haven’t had the time to find a doctor to take them out yet."

"Um hmm. Well then you and I have a date today to get them taken out. How about afterwards we go grab a bite to eat on me?"

Rebecca looked at Kristen and her face turned a little red and Kristen just smiled.

"Um, sure that sounds like a plan to me Doc Kristen-- Thanks."

"My pleasure Rebecca."

As soon as Rebecca got back to the station to sign out she was going to head back to the hospital to meet up with Kristen and get her sutures out. She was looking forward to lunch but not to getting the sutures out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later Rebecca was back at the ER looking for Kristen, she had that strange feeling again. She was only in the ER for about ten minutes before Kristen came walking back into the ER herself. She was in her office and had that feeling again and knew that Rebecca was back and sure enough there she was sitting at the front desk talking to Jill.

"Hey Rebecca-- you ready to get those sutures out?"

"Yep, when ever you are."

"Let's go then."

Rebecca followed Kristen into room eight, it was a very small room and Rebecca was starting to get a little nervous. Once they walked into the room Kristen closed the door behind them, and looked at Rebecca. She remembered that Rebecca had a problem with having her cloths off in front of people, so she grabbed a gown and handed it to her.

"Hop up on the table Rebecca and take your shirt and bra off for me."

Kristen turned and went to the counter to get the supplies she needed and also to give Rebecca time to change out of her cloths. After she had pulled all the supplies out she walked back over to the table and put them down on the tray.

"Okay, let's take the ones out of your back first."

"Okay." Rebecca said as she found a spot on the wall to look at.

Kristen had the sutures out in a matter of seconds, and it didn’t even hurt Rebecca.

"Rebecca, I need you to lay back so I can get the ones out of your breast."

Rebecca nodded her head and laid back on the table. She really hated being the patient, now she was really getting nervous. She really didn’t think about having to expose herself again, now she wished she were anywhere but here. Kristen noticed that look on Rebecca’s face again that ‘deer in the head lights’ look.

"Hey relax Rebecca-- It will only take me a few seconds to get them out and then we’re going to grab some lunch, okay?"

"Yeah sorry, I’m just getting a little embarrassed with this part."

"Hey, I’m sorry if this is embarrassing you. Do you want me to close my eyes and take out your sutures?" Kristen gave her a big smile.

Rebecca had to laugh, when she did it pulled on her spilt lip and her hand automatically went to her lip. Kristen watched the look of pain go over her face.

"No, I think I would feel better if you had them open when you have those scissors there in your hand."

"I thought so-- so what happened to your lip?"

"Oh that, Um-- I hit it on a piece of equipment at the station. It’s okay now, it only hurts when I laugh."

Kristen just smiled at her, she noticed that Rebecca kept looking away from her while she was talking about her lip. Kristen wasn’t sure she was getting the whole truth here but decided not to push Rebecca, she placed her hand on Rebecca’s shoulder.

"Okay, you ready?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Kristen helped Rebecca remove her arm from the gown and then she placed it above her head. Kristen pulled the gown over to expose the left breast. Rebecca turned her head to the side and looked at the wall. Kristen reached over and placed her right hand on Rebecca’s breast to lift it up so she could get a look at the suture site. When Kristen’s ungloved hand touched Rebecca’s skin, she felt something stir in her heart. As soon as Rebecca felt Kristen hand on her skin it tingled and then she felt her nipple get hard under her palm. Kristen watched Rebecca’s face turn red and just smiled to herself.

"Rebecca, you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I’m fine."

‘Just can’t believe my nipple just got hard under your hand, why wouldn’t I be fine.’

Kristen had Rebecca use her right hand and hold her breast over so Kristen could remove the sutures. After all the sutures were removed Kristen needed to put a bandage over the site due to some bleeding.

"Okay Rebecca there all out. I’m going to put a bandage on this one-- it’s bleeding a little okay?"

Rebecca turned her head to look at Kristen and then down at her breast.

"Yeah, okay."

Once the bandage was in place Kristen covered Rebecca up with the gown and helped her sit up. While Kristen cleaned the supplies up, Rebecca hopped down from the table and turned her back to Kristen and put her clothes back on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were at the Italian restaurant forty-five minutes later being seated for lunch. Rebecca immediately liked the restaurant she never even knew was here. It felt strange to Rebecca sitting here with Doc Kristen in a restaurant, but in a way it was neat. Kristen was in street clothes; today was the first time Rebecca had seen her in them. She decided she liked the way Kristen looked dressed in normal clothes, she was actually a very beautiful woman. These emotions she felt towards Kristen were really confusing her. Rebecca’s eyes went off of Kristen when she spotted a tall dark hair man walking towards them.

"Kristen it’s nice to see you again, it’s been awhile... I was beginning to worry my friend, and what happened to your face?"

Kristen looked up and smiled at Tony she had been coming to this restaurant for the past eight months at least once a week, usually on Friday for dinner. It was a lot better then eating alone every night.

"Tony, it’s good to see you again. I’m sorry you got worried I was out of town for awhile and this." She pointed to her cheek. "Is from a little car accident I had-- no big deal I’m fine now."

"Well I’m glad to hear that. So what can I get you pretty ladies to drink today?"

Kristen looked over to Rebecca.

"Um, a Coors Light bottle would be nice."

Kristen nodded her head and looked back to Tony and then Tony said something in Italian and Kristen laughed to herself and then said something back to him in Italian. Tony smiled and then said her would be back in a few minutes with their drinks. Rebecca had no idea what they had said to each other and she was surprised to hear Kristen speak Italian.

"Doc Kristen, um-- what did you two say? I had no idea you spoke Italian."

"Yes, actually I speak five different languages and please call me Kristen. And he asked if you were really old enough to drink a beer. I assured him that you were indeed old enough, then he made some comment about how cute you were."

Kristen watched Rebecca’s face turn a little red; she was really beginning to enjoy making that face turn red. Rebecca didn’t say anything back she just played with her napkin. ‘Yep she is definitively beautiful when she blushes.’

Tony returned within a few minutes with two Coor’s lights and asked the ladies if they were ready to order. Rebecca had no idea what she wanted she had just picked the menu up when he had brought there drinks. Kristen asked Tony to give them a few minutes. Rebecca looked over the menu, there were so many things she wanted to try. She asked Kristen what she was getting and that sounded good so she decided to get what she was getting.

During there lunch Kristen found out she really liked talking with this young lady, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt so comfortable talking. Kristen found herself smiling more in the last hour then she had in the past year. When they finally left the restaurant it was three hours later.

Kristen walked Rebecca towards her car when her sixth sense picked up and she felt they were being watched. Kristen looked at Rebecca and noticed that she must have picked up something also by the look on her face and the lack of color on her face. Kristen placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey you okay there, you look a little pale?"

"Um-- yeah I’m fine." She said as she was looking over her shoulder. Rebecca felt someone was watching her and when she looked she saw an unmarked police car in the back lot that was the same color as Tom’s.

When they got to Rebecca’s truck, Kristen noticed that her hands were shaking while she was trying to unlock her dock.

"You sure you’re okay, you look a little scared?"

"Yeah, I’m fine-- just tired it’s been a long night and day. I’ll see you later Kristen."

Kristen watched as Rebecca started her truck up and pulled out of the parking lot. She really wished she knew what had her new friend so scared. As she was getting into her car she still felt like someone was watching her as she pulled out of the parking lot, the unmarked police car behind her went unnoticed.

All the way home Kristen’s mind kept going over the feeling she was having in the parking lot. She could tell that Rebecca had felt something also, but wouldn’t admit to it and she was definitely scared she could see it in her face. She really wanted to know what the hell was going on with Rebecca and these feelings. ‘I’ll figure it out soon’ She told herself.

Rebecca drove home as fast as she could without getting a ticket, she wasn’t sure if that was Tom’s car or not since she couldn’t see anybody sitting in it. She did feel like someone was watching her and Kristen and she knew as soon as Kristen said something about she had felt it too, that was really strange.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Wednesday morning before Kristen and Rebecca ran into each other again. Kristen was sitting at her desk reading a report when that feeling happened again, she quickly headed for the ER.

Rebecca had just pulled into the ER when she felt that strange feeling again and a smile came across her face. ‘Kristen’s in the ER, so far every time I’ve had this feeling she’s been around somewhere in the ER.’

Just as Rebecca walked through the ER doors she spotted Kristen and both their faces had large smiles. Jane was watching with amusement this time. She only wished that her friends would notice for themselves the magic she saw between them.

Kristen waited for Jane and Rebecca to finish up with their patient and then walked over to them.

"Good morning you two."

Jane smiled at Kristen. "Good morning Doc Kristen. Hey guys why don’t we head down to the coffee shop for a quick cup of coffee? What do you say Rebecca, Kristen?"

Kristen and Rebecca looked at each other and nodded there heads and both said, "Sure" at the same time. Jane could only laugh at this while Kristen and Rebecca looked at her with the look of ‘What’s so funny?’ look, which made her laugh even more.

The walk to the coffee shop was too short for Kristen and Rebecca. They were back in the ER and saying their good-byes and going there separate way. Once Jane and Rebecca were back in their unit Jane was the first to speak.

"So Rebecca, what going on between you and Doc Kristen?"

Rebecca turned and looked at Jane she wasn’t sure what Jane meant by the question.

"What do you mean Jane-- she really a nice person and we get along pretty good."

"I don’t know it just seems to me that you two have some magic happening between you and neither one of you are seeing it."

Rebecca looked out the window while Jane pulled out of the parking lot. Jane knew this was making Rebecca uncomfortable but somebody needed to open her eyes.

"Becca, it okay if you like Kristen. She’s a really nice person-- there just seems to be something there and I’m not sure either of you are seeing it."

"I just don’t know Jane. There is something about her that gets to me, I know this will sound funny to you but every time we go near the hospital and she’s there I get this strange feeling and I know she’s there, it’s like I feel her presence—strange, uh!"

"Strange maybe-- have you said anything to her about it?"

"Uh uh, no way she might think I’m a crazy person or something."

"Oh, I don’t think so. Maybe she feels something also, you’ll never know unless you ask her?"

"Maybe?"

The rest of the drive to the station was quiet, Rebecca was thinking about what Jane had said to her. She had never had an attraction towards another women before, but this thing with Kristen was confusing her. She was really surprised to hear Jane talk so openly about it to her, her new friend was really surprising her all the time. When they were pulling into the station Rebecca had worked up enough nerve to say something to Jane.

"Um Jane, what did you mean by the magic between me and Kristen?"

Jane smiled to herself, she was glad that Rebecca was finally asking the question.

"Hon, I’ve seen lots of things in my life, I have seen the looks you give each other and how both of your faces light up when you see each other. Something is there, you two need to stop hiding it between yourselves and take the chance to discover it."

"Jane, I’m not gay-- remember I date guys and Kristen is a women!"

"So, she’s a women it doesn’t mean you can’t fall in love with her. You know Becca I have a few gay friends and they truly love there mates, when love happens you should never walk away from it just because your afraid."

"I’m not afraid!"

"Yes, you are. You're afraid to be attracted to a women, buts it’s okay you know, give it some time and I think you and Kristen will both come around, you’ll see."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the afternoon Jane and Rebecca found themselves back at the ER. When Rebecca saw Kristen a smile instantly formed on her face. Rebecca looked over at Jane who just nodded her head and smiled back at Rebecca. Rebecca watched that same smile form on Kristen’s face and heard Jane quietly say, "See."

When they were done with their patient and standing out in the hallway, Jane waved Kristen over. ‘Lets see if we can get this ball moving a little faster between these two.’

"Hey Doc Kristen, I was thinking maybe you and Rebecca and I could go out on Friday night and have a little fun. What do you say?"

Jane looked at Rebecca and tried to keep a straight face, the look on her face was priceless. Kristen on the other hand had a big smile on her face.

"Sure. I haven’t been out on a Friday night in a long time. We could have dinner at the Italian restaurant that Rebecca and I had lunch at on Sunday and then you two can pick whatever club to go to afterwards, how’s that sound to you guys?"

"Sounds great to me Doc Kristen, how about you Rebecca?"

Rebecca face looked a little flushed and both Jane and Kristen smiled.

"Um sure, sounds like fun. Um, Jane we really need to go back inservice."

"Okay. Doc Kristen we’ll meet you here at the ER say around five on Friday?"

"Okay sounds good to me. See you guys later."

Kristen went back to her office with a huge smile on her face. She knew that no matter how many times she denied it to herself from the first day to now she felt something for this young lady.

As soon as Jane and Rebecca were back in their unit Jane looked over to Rebecca.

"So you and Doc Kristen had lunch together on Sunday uh-- funny I didn’t hear anything about this. I thought she was just going to take you stitches out!"

"She did, but when she was done she asked me out to lunch. I don’t see what the big deal is."

Jane laughed to herself and put the unit in gear and headed back to the station. ‘Oh my friend you don’t really have a clue do you?’

Friday at five p.m. Jane and Rebecca were waiting in the ER for Kristen to finish up so they could go and hopefully have some fun.

Kristen had driven her Jeep Cherokee today just in case they were all going to drive together and sure enough Jane wanted everybody in the same vehicle so they took Kristen’s Jeep. Jane wanted to sit in the back seat of course and Rebecca had to sit up in front.

On the way to the restaurant Kristen watched Rebecca while she was talking and noticed how her hands went with her conversation. She thought back over the last two weeks and found that every time she had seen Rebecca talking she did use her hands right along with her mouth. Kristen also noticed that Rebecca was one of those touchy people while she talked, not with her of course. ‘She always seems to be nervous around me’ But with her friends in the ER and especially with her patients. She liked how Rebecca was with her patients always saying something to comfort them and hold a hand or squeeze a shoulder. ‘She is really good with people, she’s in the right line of work.’

Dinner went well, they were in the restaurant for two hours. Afterwards Jane picked the club they were going to -- much to Rebecca’s discomfort Jane explained that Rebecca didn’t go out much;she was a homebody.

The nightclub was loud of course being a Friday night. Kristen actually found herself having fun; she really enjoyed being out with Rebecca and Jane. Rebecca found herself enjoying herself also ever it there were too many people for such a small space. During the evening Jane watched her friends watching each other. She had to hide her smile when a few times they had caught each other lookingr. Jane had no idea that Rebecca could turn so red and by the smile on Kristen’s face she was enjoying making Rebecca blush. Jane had known Kristen for almost a year now and had never seen her smile so much. Jane decided she liked seeing both of her friends smile and felt they needed to do it more, so she would do everything possible to help her friends see what she was seeing between them. They liked each other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the next four weeks they went out on Fridays, the three of them went to dinner and then to the club. Kristen and Rebecca both felt as if they were being watched on their nights out, it was making warning bells go off in Kristen’s head. The problem was every time she looked around she couldn’t see anybody watching them.

Two of the times they went out Jane suggested that they meet up with some of her friends at a club. When Rebecca and Kristen said they were fine with this, they ended up in a gay bar both times. The first time in the bar Jane asked Rebecca to dance with her and then talked Kristen into taking Rebecca out on the dance floor. Their nights were filled with dancing and talking. Kristen and Rebecca never noticed Jane going to the band during a fast song to request a slow song next. Kristen stayed and danced with Rebecca on the slow songs. Kristen and Rebecca found that their bodies while dancing fit perfectly together, but neither would say so to the other.

During the past weeks there was a shadow off in the distance that followed the girls around. The shadow sat back in the shadows of parking lots and side streets and watched as the girls had their fun. He was watching the special girl out of the group, he knew that his time for fun was near. How could she do this to him? The more he watched the angrier he got.

During the workweek, Kristen and Rebecca found themselves going to the coffee shop a lot in the mornings when Jane asked for a cup of coffee. After the first week of this it finally hit Kristen what Jane was doing, she was giving them more time together.

Where ever Kristen was and no matter what she was doing when she got that feeling of Rebecca being near, she tried to get to the ER to see Rebecca. Most of the time she was able to get there, but there were a few times she was stuck in a meeting and couldn’t get away.

The next week found a cold front coming in with heavy rains. The fire department and the ER were quite busy on Sunday due to the weather. On Monday evening Rebecca and Jane were bringing in a patient whose car ended up in the river. They were driving along one of the back roads and watched a car go off the road and into the river. As soon as the unit stopped Rebecca being Rebecca jumped into the river while Jane called it in to the dispatcher.

Rebecca swam over to the car that had only one passenger, an elderly lady sitting behind the wheel. The water was cold and Rebecca was beginning to shiver so she knew that the patient was cold also. It took Rebecca a while to get the old lady out from behind the wheel, normally they would not have moved her until she was boarded and a neck collar was in place but with the river moving as fast as it was and then the car started to moved. Rebecca felt she had no choice but to move her right now.

Jane was up on the bank watching Rebecca in the car with the old lady. Jane knew it wasn’t a safe place to be for Rebecca and wished the fire engines and manpower would hurry up and get there. Jane pulled the jump bag out of the unit and waited, she could hear the sirens off in the distance and prayed they would get there before Rebecca did anything more stupid then jumping into the river in the first place. Right after she thought that she watched as the car started to move in the river.

Jane watched as Rebecca pulled the patient out of the door and started to try and swim to the bank. Jane could tell she was having problems with the water current and the patient was fighting her a little. Jane wanted to jump in and help but she knew that wouldn’t do anybody and good if they both got in trouble in the river. Jane tried a rope to the tree and then to herself and went in the water a little way and waited till Rebecca was close enough for her to grab.

The engine got to the scene just as they were coming out of the water. The men took the lady from Rebecca and carried her over to the ambulance and then helped Rebecca over to the ambulance. Jane could tell that Rebecca was exhausted, so she had one of the guys drive the ambulance to the hospital. As far as Jane was concerned she had two patients in the back of the unit.

They went to the closest hospital to the scene; they were in and out of the ER and were on their way back to the station. Jane wanted Rebecca in a hot shower and dry cloths. Jane had placed them out of service and then started in on Rebecca for doing what she did. Jane knew that Rebecca would do it again if she was in the same situation again, but it made her feel better to yell at her friend for it anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Rebecca woke up on Tuesday morning to the alarm going off again, she felt totally exhausted and her body ached. Most of the night they were out running calls, she was feeling the lack of sleep catching up to her.

They were at another car accident scene. This one wasn’t so much from the weather but the amount of alcohol that the driver had in him. They had just put the patient in the back of the unit and Jane was walking around to the drivers door when she saw another police car arrive; it was Tom. Jane locked eyes with Tom and then got into her unit and headed for the hospital. For the last month they had been lucky and not run into him at all. They had passed him a few times on the road but that was it. Jane only hoped that he wouldn’t be heading to the ER to talk to the victims that were involved in this accident.

Kristen was in the ER when she felt Rebecca, ‘Good-- just in time for coffee’. She and Dave Wright were sitting at the front desk when Rebecca and Jane came walking in. Kristen asked Dave if he had this one and she would take the next one. Dave was up and heading towards the patient. Dave knew that Kristen went for coffee with Rebecca in the mornings and was more then happy to take this one for her. Dave liked seeing his friend smile and when Rebecca was around that’s all she did.

Kristen sat at the front desk and watched as Jane came out of the room pushing the stretcher. Jane walked it over to the far wall and left it there and then headed towards to her.

"Hey Doc Kristen, nice morning isn’t it?" Jane shook her head to get some of the rain off.

"Jane you look a little wet, I take it it’s still raining outside?" She said with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, I can’t wait until this storm front goes away. I want nice dry weather."

"Yeah me too. You guys run a lot of calls last night?"

"Yeah too many. Rebecca looks like shit and needs a cup of coffee."

"I get the point Jane, as soon as she comes out we’ll head down to the coffee shop."

"Great." Jane was sitting next to Kristen at this point waiting on Rebecca.

Jane looked up and saw the ER doors open and Tom walking in, "Oh no." Kristen looked where Jane was looking and saw the police officer and wondered what the problem was. Rebecca had just come out of the room and almost walked right into him. Kristen noticed that Rebecca was looking really pale and then she had this sickening feeling come over her. Before she could say anything Jane was out of her seat and heading towards them.

  #9; #9; #9;

Part 2

Jane had walked over to them and stood next to Rebecca, and just stared at Tom while she spoke to Rebecca.

"Hey Rebecca we’re ready. C’mon."

Rebecca looked away from Jane and saw Kristen on her way over to them with a concerned look on her face. Rebecca looked back to Jane.

"Okay, I have nothing else to say here."

Jane nodded her head to Tom and took Rebecca’s arm and pulled her towards Kristen. As they met in the middle of the ER Jane said to everybody. "Coffee shop, lets go."

Kristen knew something was wrong but nodded her head at Jane. Kristen started walking ahead of them out of the ER and down the hallway. While walking down the hallway behind Kristen, Jane quietly spoke to Rebecca.

"Kiddo, you okay?"

Rebecca let a small smile form on her face. "Yeah fine-- later."

Jane nodded her head in understanding. Kristen heard there quiet exchange but didn’t say anything about it, she hoped that Rebecca would trust her enough one day to talk to her.

The conversation was short in the coffee shop due to the fact everybody needed to get back to work. Within twenty minutes they were walking back in the ER. Kristen did notice that Rebecca was coming down with a really good cough. Rebecca was still looking a little pale and Kristen wasn’t so sure if it was from everything that took place in the ER earlier. She had gotten the whole story from Jane yesterday about Rebecca’s little swim in the river and was hoping that whatever she was coming down with her body could fight off.

Kristen watched as Rebecca quickly walked through the ER and out the door after saying her good-byes. Jane was right behind her with the stretcher. Just as they left, a patient came through the doors. This trauma patient would keep Kristen busy in the OR for a few hours.

As soon as they left the ER Rebecca immediately went to the passenger seat of the ambulance. Jane walked around to the back and put the stretcher in. Jane looked around the area to see if Tom was still around. Sure enough he was sitting over in his car watching them. He wasn’t even trying to hide that fact. Jane climbed in the front seat behind the wheel and started the engine.

Rebecca looked over to her friend. "Jane, he’s sitting in his car watching us."

"Yeah, I saw the sonofabitch. C’mon lets get out of here." Jane put the unit in gear and pulled out of the hospital.

It was quiet for awhile inside the ambulance, Rebecca sat and stared out the passenger window. After a few minutes or so she turned to look at her friend.

"Jane, do you think Kristen noticed anything wrong?"

"Rebecca, I’m sure she did. Your face went totally white when you ran into Tom, what did he say to you anyway?"

"He said he still ‘loved’ me and how sorry he was that we had that little fight."

"What a sick bastard!"

"Yeah, you don’t think Kristen will ask me about it do you? I really don’t want to lie to her."

"Hon, I have a feeling she’ll wait for you to bring it up and then talk to you about it. You know she really cares about you?"

"Really?"

"Really. I wish you wouldn’t be so blind sometimes."

"What do you mean, I’m being blind?"

"Rebecca, she really likes you if you get my meaning?"

"Jane, you don’t know what you're talking about we’re friends, that’s all." Rebecca turned and looked out the window again.

Jane just shook her head she wasn’t going to push the issue. "If you say so kiddo."

The rest of the day was spent running more calls due to the bad weather. Jane didn’t talk about Kristen or Tom that much, she did try a few times to get Rebecca to open up and talk about her feelings some. Jane was worried that Rebecca would keep everything bottled up inside like she always did until she would finally brake down from the stress she was trying to hind inside.

Kristen stayed busy in the ER most of the day. She hated bad weather but it was good for business. She did get to see Rebecca and Jane about five times so, she was happy about that.

At the end of their shift Jane didn’t think her friend was looking so good. Rebecca’s cough had slowly gotten worse throughout the day and she was still very pale and that had Jane a little concerned. They had the next few days off so she hoped Rebecca could rest up and get over the cold she seemed to be coming down with. Before they left the station Jane told Rebecca she would call her tomorrow and see how she was feeling. Jane asked Rebecca to be very careful while driving home since she wouldn’t let Jane drive her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday afternoon Jane called over to Rebecca’s house to see how she was feeling. She had talked to Rebecca for about ten minutes and then they hung up. Jane didn’t like how Rebecca was sounding. Rebecca said she was feeling better, she was just tired and needed a little more sleep. Jane told her to call if she needed anything; she was going to be home for the day. Jane felt a little better when Rebecca said her dad was going to be home today and tomorrow to take care of her. Jane told Rebecca she would call again tonight before she went to bed to see how she was doing.

Kristen had a long day at work, she had three meetings to go to, plus she ended up in an emergency surgery for four hours. Kristen really found out that she really missed seeing Rebecca when it was her days off from work. Throughout the day her mind would go to those green eyes and she found herself smiling. She also noticed; if she was going to be honest with herself that lately it was getting harder to keep her mind from wondering to Rebecca. She would just tell herself, ‘Yep, you got it bad for her’ and then tried to focus on her job and go back to work. Kristen found it was always better when she just kept herself busy with something. She would work late on the days that Rebecca was off, so tonight it was after eight before she was home. The first thing she did was grab a glass of wine, then the clothes came off on her way to the Jacuzzi. Kristen found one of the best ways for her to relax and help her tired muscles was a long soak in the Jacuzzi.

Jane called over to Rebecca’s around nine to check up on her. Rebecca’s dad Dale answered the phone. Dale explained to Jane that Rebecca was out like a light, that she had taken some night time cold medicine. Jane thought, ‘Good, she could use the rest and she’ll probably feel better in the morning.’ They said their goodnights and then Jane headed for bed herself.

On Thursday Jane called Rebecca in the afternoon to see have she was doing. Rebecca didn’t stay on the phone long. Jane didn’t like how her cough was sounding worse then before. All Rebecca would say was that the cold medicine was helping a lot, she just need more sleep and then told her to stop worrying so much. Jane suggested that maybe she should see a doctor but Rebecca refused, so she didn’t push the issue with her. Jane could never understand why she had a problem with seeing a doctor. Jane also knew that Rebecca was an adult and could make her own decisions and she couldn’t make her do anything she didn’t want to do.

Thursday night around ten when Jane called over to Rebecca’s house, she got no answer. As she climbed into her own bed she thought to herself, ‘Rebecca's probably sleeping with the night time medicine again and dad is out, I’ll try her tomorrow.’

Friday afternoon Jane got a phone call from Dale and that surprised her.

"Hey dad-- what’s up?"

"Jane, I'm starting to get really worried about Becca. She's sounding pretty bad and I have to go out of town in a little while for a week. Could you come and sleep over tonight with her, please?"

"Sure dad that’s not a problem. What time are you leaving?"

"In about three hours."

"Okay, that gives me enough time to grab a friend of ours who just so happens to be a doctor. She can see Rebecca without Rebecca really knowing it."

"Good, I think she really needs to see a doctor. I’ll see you when you get here if it’s before I have to leave, if not I’ll call tomorrow and see how she is. Okay?"

"Okay Dad, bye."

"Bye."

Jane was at the hospital an hour and a half later looking for Kristen. When she didn’t see Kristen in the ER she headed to her office. She knocked on the door and a voice behind the door told her to come in.

"Hey Kristen, you got a minute?"

"Sure Jane-- what’s up?"

"Um, Kristen I have a little problem and I was hoping you could help me out."

"Jane, are you okay?" Kristen asked with concerned look on her face. Jane had never asked for help before.

"Um, yeah it’s not me. It’s Rebecca."

"What’s wrong with Rebecca?" Jane saw the change in Kristen face as soon as Rebecca’s name came out of her mouth.

"Well, I got a call from her dad a little while ago because he’s worried about her cold and he’s going away for a week and leaving this evening. He asked if I could stay with her. I think she really needs to be seen by a doctor but she’s refusing as usual. So I was hoping that since it’s Friday night we could just drop by and see her because it’s what we do on Friday’s and you could just check her out without her really knowing it."

"What is it with her and doctors?-- God, she’s so stubborn sometimes."

"You have no idea!"

"How was she sounding when you talked to her last?"

"Her cough is really bad, it sounds like it gone down into her chest and she sleeping a lot."

"Just great. C’mon, I’ll grab a few things from here and we’ll head over to see our stubborn friend."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They arrived a little over an hour later at Rebecca’s house. Kristen had followed behind Jane in her own car. The thing that Kristen found funny was that Rebecca only lived about a half-hour away from her house.

Kristen grabbed her bag from her car and followed Jane to the front door. Jane noticed that dad had already left so she used her house key to let herself in.

"Jane, you have the door keys?"

"Of course, I’ve had one since I was a kid--I used to baby-sit Becca."

"Really, I didn’t realize that you were that much older then Rebecca."

"Yeah, I’m five years older. I know I don’t look like it-- I hear that all the time."

They walked in and Jane turned on the lights and Kristen put her bag down on the chair. Jane looked to Kristen and motioned to her to follow.

"C’mon, let go see the patient."

"Right behind you."

Kristen followed Jane down the hallway to a closed door. Jane opened Rebecca’s bedroom door and the first thing that hit her was the heat that came out of there and then the smell of sweat.

Jane looked back to Kristen. "Oh boy-- this isn’t good."

Kristen felt the heat and could smell what Jane had smelled. "Nope, not good."

Jane found the light switch and turned on the light. Rebecca didn’t even move, she was laying there in her bed under what looked liked four blankets. Jane could make out her Winnie the Pooh pajamas. Jane looked over to see what the heat was set at. "Eighty-five. She has the heat set at eighty-five."

Kristen shook her head and headed for the bed. "Yeah, she’s sick all right. Jane can you go grab my bag off the chair and bring it in here please."

"Sure, be right back."

Jane was back in a flash. Kristen was pulling the blankets off of Rebecca and Jane sat the bag on the bed. Rebecca still didn’t wake up.

"Kristen shouldn’t she have woken up by now?"

"From the way she sounds from just trying to breathe she’s probably just too exhausted."

Kristen reached into her bag and pulled out her blood pressure cuff and her stethoscope and a digital thermometer. Kristen handed the thermometer to Jane.

"Here, you hold this in her mouth while I get her blood pressure."

"Okay." Jane climbed into the bed and opened Rebecca’s mouth and held the thermometer there while Kristen took her Blood pressure. When the thermometer beeped Jane pulled it out and looked at Kristen.

"Oh shit. Kristen her temp is 104."

"Yeah her pajamas are soaked with sweat and her blood pressure is really low. Let see if we can get her to wake up a little here." Kristen placed her hands on Rebecca’s cheeks.

"Rebecca, I need you to wake up sweetheart, c’mon." Kristen then gave her cheek a little slap.

Rebecca finally opened here eyes. "Whoa... c’mon I don’t feel so good mom. Just let me sleep a little while longer," and then closed her eyes.

Kristen and Jane looked at each other. They both said, "Oh boy" at the same time.

Kristen unbuttoned her pajama top and opened it up. Jane’s mouth fell open. One she had never seen her friend naked and two she knew that Rebecca would be so pissed off if she knew what they were doing to her.

"Man-- Kristen, she would have a cow right now if she was awake."

"She’ll just have to deal with it Jane. I know how she is, I had to fight with her just to stitch her boob up. She really needs to get over being so modest."

Kristen listened to both lungs and her heart; she didn’t like what she was hearing.

"Jane we need to sit her up, then I need you hold her up while I listen to her again."

Kristen pulled Rebecca up into a sitting position and Jane sat closer and held her while Kristen put the stethoscope to her back.

"Okay, you can lay her back down now."

Once Jane had laid Rebecca back down on the bed she watched Kristen palpate her stomach and move her hands a little under the pajama bottoms to palpate her abdomen. Rebecca groaned when Kristen palpated this area. When Kristen was done she just sat there beside Rebecca for a minute thinking of how she wanted to work this. Kristen looked to Jane.

"Well Jane, our friend here has fluid in both lungs, she’s dehydrated and her fever is way to high. By all accounts she should be in the hospital."

"Kristen you know that as soon as she woke up she would just leave – right?"

"Yeah, I know. So it looks like we’re going to have a girls sleep over Jane."

"Cool!"

"Okay, first things first."

Kristen pulled two syringes from her bag and two bottles of medicine and an IV kit. She filled the syringes and then placed them on the bed. Kristen rolled Rebecca a little on her side and pulled her pajama bottoms down to expose her bottom area and then pushed Rebecca so she was laying mostly on her stomach. Kristen picked up the one syringe in one hand and an alcohol prep pad in the other. She cleaned the one area and then injected the first shot. Then went to a different spot on her cheek and cleaned it for the second shot. Jane just watched Kristen, when she was done she rolled Rebecca back over. For the first time Jane noticed how exposed her friend was at that moment. She was seeing way too much of her friend.

Kristen piled all the pillows behind Rebecca to sit her up, which would help her breathe a little easier. She had left Rebecca’s top unbuttoned but pulled them together and placed one blanket over her. Kristen started Rebecca’s IV and just ran it wide open for now, she looked to Jane.

"How about some coffee and maybe a pizza? I need to gave the medicine some time to work, Jane if she not sounding better in a couple of hours I may have to admit her."

"What ever you say Kristen, c’mon I’ll call the pizza in and you can make the coffee."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pizza order was placed and the coffee was brewing. Jane had turned on the TV and was now looking for blankets and pillows for her and Kristen. Kristen was in the kitchen doing what looked like to her at least four or five days’ worth of dishes that were left in the sink.

When the pizza arrived, Jane and Kristen sat at the table and talked. Kristen started to explain her plan of action for Rebecca while eating her pizza. Jane sat and listened and shook her head. ‘Boy is she going to be pissed at us.’ She thought after Kristen said Rebecca was going in the bathtub to get cleaned up when they were done eating.

When Kristen was finish she was back checking on Rebecca with Jane right behind her. Rebecca’s temp was still too high, so Kristen decided more shots for Rebecca. She went through the same process as before but used a different cheek. While she was giving Rebecca her shots her only comment was "Boy, are these going to be sore tomorrow." Jane had to laugh a little when Kristen said that with a smile on her face.

When Kristen was done with that she asked Jane to start running the bath water. Kristen explained to Jane that she wanted the water warm not hot. Jane nodded her head and went to do what she was asked. When she was done she came back to the bedroom.

"Okay it’s ready, now what?"

Kristen smiled. "Now our friend here is going to take a bath with our help."

Jane’s only reply was. "Oh boy."

"Jane. I need you to hold the IV bag for me. Okay?"

"Sure thing."

Jane walked around the bed and picked up the IV bag. She watched as Kristen picked Rebecca up like she only weighted, five pounds.

"Damn Kristen-- what the hell do you eat?"

Kristen shook her head and smiled. "It’s a secret!"

When they were in the bathroom Kristen stood Rebecca up and held her up and told Jane to pull her pants off.

"What?"

"C’mon Jane, I need some help here. Play the EMT thing and pull the pants down so I can sit her on the toilet."

"Oh man, I am so not telling her we did this!"

"Jane, you’ll have to learn how to separate yourself from personal and professional. Especially when you’re taking care of somebody you know."

"I know your right-- I just never worked on somebody I’m friends with."

"Believe me I understand. It took me awhile to learn how to separate them too."

Jane pulled Rebecca’s pants down and then Kristen sat her down on the toilet. Kristen stepped to the side of Rebecca. Kristen pulled Rebecca’s body towards her and just held her. "Now let's see if she goes pee for us, her bladder felt like it had something in it."

They stood there one on each side of Rebecca. After about two minutes of this they heard Rebecca’s body do what it would naturally.

Kristen smiled. "Bingo, this is a good sign my friend, lord knows when the last time she went."

"Kristen this is good. But I am not wiping her-- you are!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Rebecca’s toilet issues were taken care of Kristen disconnected the IV for a moment to get Rebecca’s shirt off, then hooked it back up. Jane could not believe she was seeing her friend sitting on the toilet totally naked leaning on Kristen. Rebecca groaned and moaned a few times and even mumbled something but she never woke up all the way. Jane only hoped that tomorrow Rebecca would just think this was all a dream or something. Jane watched as Kristen lifted her up and put her in the tub, and then she hung the IV bag on the hanger that she had bent over the shower rod.

"Kristen, isn’t she going to fall over or something in there?"

"No, I’m going to sit here with her. You can stay or go watch TV or something if you want."

Jane watched as Kristen sat on the floor next to the tub and kept one hand on Rebecca’s shoulder.

"Um, I think I’ll go watch a little TV-- just call me when you need me okay?"

"Sure, we’ll be awhile. I’m going to let the water cool down and hope that it helps bring her fever down some."

Jane left the bathroom and went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee and then laid a blanket out on one of the sofas and got comfortable.

Once Rebecca was settled in the tub Kristen went into her personal mode and just looked at Rebecca, she couldn’t help it. It had been a very long time since she was attracted to anyone and the person in front of her was the most beautiful creature that she had ever seen. At first she just looked at her face, this was the first time she was able to really study it and then her eyes looked over the rest of the body.

Kristen groaned to herself, ‘I know I shouldn’t be staring, but god is she beautiful.’ She looked at the nice firm breasts that were floating in the water with big pink nipples and then down to the golden patch between two very strong, shapely legs. She sat back and wondered what it would be like to be with this beautiful person. Rebecca seemed so bold sometimes and then so timid at other times it just warmed her heart. Kristen felt great pleasure while she bathed Rebecca. When she was done she felt a little guilty about it, but knew she could live with it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About forty-five minutes of sitting in the now cold water, Rebecca opened her eyes. She had felt cold and wet and it slowly brought her back into the world of the living. When Rebecca’s eyes opened, she slowly turned her head to lock eyes with Kristen.

"Hi."

"Hey there sweetheart. Glad to see your going to wake up for me."

It took Rebecca a few minutes to realize she was sitting in the bathtub in front of Kristen. She looked down to herself, then back up to Kristen’s eyes.

"Please tell me this isn’t real?"

"What, that you’re in your bath tub?"

"Um. Yeah, that I’m in my bathtub and naked. Oh man, this is really embarrassing."

"Rebecca you were pretty sick earlier-- I was going to admit you, but Jane talked me out of it. We’ll going to have a little talk about this thing with you and seeing doctors when you're better. Your fever was really high and this was helping to bring it down some, there is nothing for you to be embarrassed about."

Rebecca moved her one arm to try and cover herself, then started to move the one that was on the side of the tub. Kristen placed her hand on Rebecca’s forearm.

"Oh no you don’t, this hand can’t go in the water-- you have an IV in."

Rebecca just bent her head down; this was so embarrassing for her. Kristen lightly brushed the hair off her forehead in an attempt to make her friend feel better. Kristen knew that Rebecca would probably have a hard time with this if she woke up while in the bathtub.

"Rebecca listen to me for a minute, I’m talking to you as a friend here okay?"

Kristen placed her hand on Rebecca's chin and turned her head so she was looking at her.

"There is nothing for you to be embarrassed about, you have a beautiful body Rebecca. Be proud of it."

Rebecca face turned red and nodded her head.

Jane had heard voices in the bathroom so she headed there. She walked to the bathroom door and quietly peeked her head in. The picture she saw just warmed her heart to no end. Kristen was lightly brushing Rebecca’s hair off her forehead.

"Hey guys--how’s it going in here?"

She walked over and sat on the toilet seat. It took Rebecca a second to realize that Jane was now in the bathroom too, she was so lost from the feel of Kristen stroking her hair.

"Ah man, not you too-- this is now totally embarrassing. Jane close your eyes!"

"Take it easy kiddo, I won’t tell anybody about seeing you naked in the tub."

Rebecca looked up to Kristen, she knew that Rebecca wanted to get out of the tub.

"Rebecca, how about we get you out of the tub? I think you’ve been in there long enough now."

"That would be nice!"

"Jane grab me a towel-- when I help her stand up wrap it around her."

"Okay," as Jane stood and grabbed a towel for Rebecca to use.

"I can do this myself guys if you would just leave the bathroom." Rebecca said from the bathtub.

Kristen shook her no. "Nope. You could fall over. You’ll be pretty weak for awhile-- so you get our help whether you like it or not. C’mon I’ll help you stand."

Kristen helped Rebecca stand and Jane wrapped a towel around her, much to her dislike. Then Jane grabbed the IV bag while Kristen walked Rebecca to her bedroom. Once they had Rebecca sitting on the bed Kristen asked Jane to find pajamas for Rebecca that buttoned up in front. Rebecca just sat there and shook her head. This was totally embarrassing her to no end.

Once Jane pulled out another pair of Winnie the Pooh pajamas for Rebecca, Kristen asked her to go and turn the recliner in the living room into a bed. Kristen said she would bring Rebecca out when she had her dressed.

Once Jane left the room Kristen disconnected the IV to get Rebecca dressed. Once everything was done Kristen helped Rebecca out to the living room and sat her in the recliner and covered her in a blanket. Rebecca looked around and noticed that both sofas had blankets and pillow’s on them.

"Hey, what up with the sofa’s?"

Jane and Kristen looked at each other and both said at the same time. "Sleep over party."

"Guys, you don’t have to stay over I’m feeling a lot better now."

Kristen knelt down beside Rebecca. "Rebecca, the only reason you're feeling better is because I’ve re-hydrated you and the medicine is working. You’re still a little ways away from being better. Anyway it’s been a long time since I’ve had a girls sleep over, so we’re staying."

Kristen stood and walked into the kitchen before Rebecca could say anything, Jane just climbed into her sofa and wrapped up in her blanket. Kristen came back into the living room with her coffee, sat on her sofa and wrapped the blanket around her legs.

"Jane, find us a good movie to watch."

"Sure thing Kristen."

Rebecca just looked at both of them and then tried to get comfortable, they weren't going to leave her.

About an hour later Rebecca found that she had to really go pee and started to get up from the recliner. Kristen turned from watching the movie to see what she was doing.

"Rebecca, where do you think you’re going?"

"I have to go to the bathroom." She said as her face began to flush.

"Hang on-- I’ll help." Kristen got up and walked over to the recliner that Rebecca was sitting in.

Rebecca looked up into Kristen’s eyes. "Kristen, I think I can handle this myself."

Kristen shot her eyebrow up and shook her head. "Nope. One-- I have to hold your IV. Two-- you might fall over. So don’t argue with me!"

Kristen helped Rebecca stand and walk to the bathroom; she hung the bag on the hanger. Kristen just stood in front of Rebecca and held her up, she was very unsteady on her feet.

"Okay Kristen, I’m here now. You can leave."

"I’ll leave just as soon as you’re on the toilet."

"Oh, c’mon. Man."

"C’mon, pull them down and sit, then I’m out of here. I’ll come back in when you’re done. Do not get up without me, understand?"

"Fine." She knew by the look on Kristen’s face that she wasn’t going to win this one.

Rebecca pulled her pajama pants down. Kristen helped her to sit, then went and stood out in the hallway until she was done. When she was done she helped Rebecca back out to the living room and her waiting recliner. Kristen went back into the bedroom and grabbed her stethoscope, she wanted to listen to Rebecca’s chest to see how she was sounding. In about another hour or so Rebecca would need her shots. Kristen hadn’t told Rebecca about them yet. Kristen was just going to wait until it was time for them, then tell her. She walked back into the living and knelt next to Rebecca.

"Rebecca, I’m going to give a listen to your chest, okay?"

Kristen started to unbutton her top half way down, Rebecca’s face turned red as an apple. Kristen listened to the front and then had Rebecca sit up some and listened to the back. Kristen just shook her head-- she still sounded bad. In the morning she hoped she would sound a lot better after a night of antibiotics and from the shot that would help with the fluid in her lungs and the fever. When she was done she buttoned her top back up and replaced the blanket. Kristen hung a new IV bag and then went back to watching the movie. Jane never moved off her sofa, she kept her eyes on the TV hoping to help ease some of Rebecca’s embarrassment.

It was an hour and a half later when Rebecca finally broke down and said she needed to use the bathroom again, she was really beginning to hate IV’s. Jane was asleep on her sofa so Rebecca spoke in a quiet voice to Kristen.

"Kristen, I have to go to the bathroom."

Kristen looked over to Rebecca and was wondering way she was being so quiet then she noticed that Jane was sound asleep.

"Okay, hang on."

Kristen moved to help Rebecca to the bathroom and went through the same process as before but instead of waiting in the hallway Kristen went into the bedroom. When Rebecca was ready she went into the bathroom with two loaded syringes. She placed them on the sink counter. When Rebecca looked to see what she had put down her eyes went wide.

"Um. Who are those for?"

"You of course, you already had a few tonight. Tomorrow you can started taking the pills."

"You know I hate needles Kristen!"

"Yeah, but this way it gets into your system faster. So c’mon stand up so I can get those butt cheeks of yours."

"Man, I don’t believe this shit!"

"C’mon up you go, then just lean on me. I can reach your butt cheek."

Kristen helped Rebecca stand. Rebecca couldn’t believe how exhausted she felt just from the two short walks to the bathroom. If Rebecca was to be honest with herself, she would admit that it felt good when Kristen held her. Kristen had wrapped her one arm around Rebecca’s waist to help hold her. Kristen reached for the prep pad, cleaned an area and then picked up the shot.

"Ready?-- Here’s goes."

Rebecca squeezed Kristen when the needle when in. "Ow. That hurts."

"Hang on, one more."

"OW, ow-- okay that one hurts more. Shit that burns!"

"Okay, all done."

Kristen reached down and pulled Rebecca's pants up, then helped her back to her chair. Within the hour Rebecca was asleep, so Kristen let herself get some rest also.

Kristen opened her eyes slowly after hearing the toilet flush. She look at her watch it was four a.m., ‘Well, since she’s up she can have her shots-- it’s probably time for a new IV bag too.’

Rebecca came walking into the living room from the bathroom and saw Kristen sitting in the recliner waiting for her. ‘Oh no.’

"Um, I had to go-- don’t give me that look Kristen, I’m feeling way better now."

Kristen stood up from the recliner and motioned for her to sit. Rebecca walked over and sat down and looked up in to Kristen's eyes.

"Good, glad to hear you’re feeling better. Just to make sure you feel even better later this morning you get another dose of medicine. So roll to the side and give me the left butt cheek this time!"

"Damn, but you said I get pills today!"

"Yeah, after this last dose. I was going to get you up at five for it, but you can have it now."

Kristen had everything set up by the chair.

"Okay, c’mon roll and give me your back side Rebecca."

Rebecca rolled a little and Kristen pulled the pajamas bottoms down to expose the area she needed. She cleaned the area and then gave Rebecca her first shot.

"Ow, ow-- that hurts!"

Jane woke up with the noise. "Oh, that really looks like it hurts. This would make such a great picture with that cute butt of yours up in the air Rebecca!"

Rebecca brought her head up to look at Jane. "I’ll remember you said that smart ass. Go back to sleep trouble maker."

Jane smiled and shook her head. "Touché, night." She rolled back over with a smile on her face, ‘It’s a bad thing she’s sick but in a way this has been great for her and Kristen, they soooo need to wake up!’

Kristen gave her the last shot and then started to change the IV bag.

"Kristen not another one, they keep making me have to pee, don’t you think two has been enough?"

"Just one more okay? You were pretty dehydrated last night and your body needs this."

"Okay."

After everything was done Rebecca got comfortable again in the chair. Rebecca did find it a lot easier to breathe sitting up some, but she wasn’t about to say so to Kristen. She knew that was the reason Kristen had put her in the chair in the first place.

Kristen sat back on her sofa after she had covered Rebecca up. She wasn’t sure if she could go back to sleep; this was around her usual time to get up. Kristen didn’t want to keep anybody else up, so she just closed her eyes and thought about Rebecca. Kristen found herself falling back to sleep with a smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was actually late morning when everybody started to come alive. Jane was in the kitchen making coffee while Kristen was taking out Rebecca’s IV. Jane was trying to come up with a way she could leave and have Kristen stay with Rebecca. ‘They need some time together.’

Kristen walked into the Kitchen. "Jane anything I can help you with?"

"No I got it. Where’s Rebecca?"

"She’s in the bathroom taking care of some personal business."

Jane handed Kristen a cup of coffee and grabbed one for her and sat down at the table with Kristen. Things were quiet for a minute then Jane spoke up.

"Um, Kristen I have a problem and I was wondering if you could help me out?"

"What’s up?"

"Well, I have to be someplace at noon today and I’m not sure what your plans are but I was wondering if you could stay with Rebecca? I don’t want to leave her by herself."

Kristen smiled. "Sure I’ll stay with her, I don’t want her by herself either."

"Good, thanks."

Rebecca just walked into the kitchen to see her friends with the look of the cat that ate the canary look. "Okay you two-- what’s up in here?"

Jane and Kristen looked at each other, and then Jane spoke up.

"Rebecca, I have to be someplace at noon today, so Kristen and I were talking and she’s going to stay here with you after I leave. We both think somebody should be here with you today. Kristen said she didn’t want an argument out of you. Right Kristen?"

"Um, right-- I’m staying."

Rebecca shook her head. "Umhumm," she walked over and got herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table. As soon as she sat she made a face due to the pain in her butt. Kristen and Jane looked at each other and busted out laughing. Rebecca knew what they were laughing at and wasn’t about to admit her butt hurt, so she said the next best thing.

"Okay, so who’s cooking me breakfast?"

After Jane had left, Kristen wanted to check out her patient and see how things were sounding. Kristen walked over to the recliner and knelt down beside Rebecca.

"Rebecca, I want to take a listen to your chest and see how things are sounding in there and just check you out in general. I would rather have you laying flat so can we go back to your bedroom?"

Rebecca could all ready feel the heat rising in her cheeks. "Um-- sure."

Rebecca got up from the chair and Kristen followed her back to her bedroom. She took Rebecca’s blood pressure first then had her lay down on her bed. Kristen unbuttoned her top and opened it up, Rebecca’s face turned red and she couldn’t look at Kristen. Kristen smiled to herself, ‘She’s so cute when she blushes.’ Kristen took her stethoscope and listened to her lungs and then had Rebecca sit up and listened again. ‘Sounds better, good.’ Kristen had Rebecca lay flat again and then started to palpate her stomach, she felt Rebecca tense up when she slipped her hands under her pants to palpate her abdomen.

"Rebecca, relax sweetheart-- I know this makes you uncomfortable, but I’m just trying to make sure you’re okay."

"I know... I’m sorry."

When Kristen was finished she pulled Rebecca’s shirt closed.

"Okay-- your lungs sound a lot better and everything else is looking good. You’ll be back in good health in no time."

Rebecca sat up and started to button her top up. "Good, I hate being sick!"

"No kidding-- is it because you have to see a doctor or because you’re sick?"

Rebecca was sitting on the side of the bed and Kristen sat down next to her.

"Kristen don’t take it personal, but I just don’t like seeing doctors."

"I know you don’t sweetheart, but when you get as sick as you were you should have gone to see a doctor."

Rebecca looked down at her hands. "I can’t-- I don’t even have a doctor to see."

Kristen reached over and placed her hand on top of Rebecca’s. "Yes you do, me."

Rebecca looked up into Kristen eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, now how about some lunch and a movie?"

"Sounds good to me."

The weekend flew by for Kristen and Rebecca between watching movies and talking throughout the day. Rebecca slept a lot also; Kristen enjoyed the time when she did. Kristen enjoyed the opportunity to just sit and watch Rebecca sleep. There was only one thing that was bothering Kristen. Earlier in the day while Rebecca was in the kitchen getting something to drink she had that sickening feel come over her again. Kristen went into the kitchen and found Rebecca looking out the kitchen window white as a ghost. She had asked Rebecca what the problem was, but all she would tell her is that she thought she saw somebody she knew drive by the house.

It was late in the evening and Rebecca was sleeping in the recliner. Kristen decided to use the quiet time for a much needed shower. Kristen went into the bathroom and stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower. Kristen left the bathroom door open so she could hear Rebecca, plus to let her know that if she needed to use the bathroom she could come in and use it.

Rebecca woke up and noticed that Kristen wasn’t in the living room. Rebecca heard water running and looked down the hallway from her chair and saw that the bathroom light was on. When the water turned off she looked down the hallway again and saw Kristen come out of the bathroom and head into her bedroom. What caught her by surprise was that Kristen only had a towel wrapped around her waist, Rebecca found her eyes glued to Kristen’s well-built chest area.

When Kristen came back out into the living room she noticed that Rebecca’s face was flushed and asked if she was feeling okay. Rebecca said she was fine, so Kristen sat back down and watched TV. Throughout the evening Kristen noticed that Rebecca would stare at her for a few minutes and then go back to watching TV. Kristen had no idea what was going through Rebecca’s mind.

Jane had called several times on Saturday and was glad to hear that Kristen was going to sleep over again. Jane told Kristen that she would come over tomorrow afternoon and stay with Rebecca and sleep over so Kristen could head home and get some of her things done.

It was Tuesday before Kristen ran into Rebecca at the hospital, Kristen had recommended that she stay home on Monday and rest, she even wrote her a doctor’s note. They had their morning coffee together and then they all went back to work. The rest of the week went by as usual running into each other and having coffee breaks together.

Since both Rebecca and Jane had to work on Friday night their plans were switched to Saturday. So far this had only happened one other time and nobody had a problem switching nights.

Saturday evening they were at the Italian restaurant for dinner. After a few hours of enjoying the food and the conversation they headed out to the parking to get into their cars. While walking through the parking lot Kristen and Rebecca felt like they were being watched again, but neither of them said anything to the other. Kristen knew that Rebecca felt it also by the way she tensed up and started walking faster toward Jane’s car. When they pulled into the parking lot of the club and started walking to the doors they still felt as if they were being watched.

There was a feeling that came along with the thought of being watched and Kristen wasn’t happy with it; Trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Continued - Part 2 & 3

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