THE REASON
By Missy
(missy@lexicon.net)

The characters that you recognise from ER are the property of Michael Crichton, Warner Bros, Constant Productions and Amblin Television and to the actors who so marvellously portray them. Many thanks must go to my editors Clotho, Susan Drake and Carolyn Delaney for their tireless and marvellous editing. Season 6 spoilers.

Spoilers up to The Peace of Wild Things or thereabouts. This story is rated R due to its content. It contains rather disturbing descriptions and is probably best read during daylight hours. My editors have informed me that it is rather chilling, creepy and does evoke some of those thoughts about things that go bump in the night and one of my editors has knicknamed it "The VeryScaryFic".

Previous parts and other stories may be found at: http://www.oocities.org/missyliannem

Part 7/14

Each minute seemed to drag by slowly before another hour ticked over on the clock. Kerry found herself clock-watching, wishing the hands would spin around the dial to end the day. The longer she looked and watched, the slower the hands of time appeared to move.

By the time one o'clock came, Kerry went thankfully into the lounge in the hope of having a half hour to herself. Usually she would take a moment to quickly grad a cup of coffee and a bite to eat while completing administrative work, but today she couldn't concentrate on the ER.

Her hopes of finding refuge in the lounge were dashed. It was already occupied by a couple of med students, cramming on their lunch hour, and a few nurses taking a short coffee break. Collecting her purse from her locker, Kerry escaped the room, which seemed to be shrink even as she stood in it.

Debating her choices between the cafeteria and Doc Magoos, she decided upon the latter, where there would be fewer staff As she walked out into the cold afternoon air, she wished she had grabbed her coat from her locker. Kerry moved rapidly across to the brightly lit restaurant. A gentleman leaving Magoos held the door open for her, and she gave him a word of thanks as she went inside. She gave her order to the girl at the counter before finding a seat in the far corner.

Placing her crutch against the wall, Kerry sat down, relieved not to have to think about anything for a moment. Music filled the restaurant; it was at a level which was tolerable, and the particular song playing at the moment didn't grate on her nerves. Leaning her elbows on the table, she cupped her head in her hands and closed her eyes while waiting for her lunch to arrive. Kerry felt the tension easing in her neck muscles, and she rotated her head, stretching them further.

A hand on her shoulder caused her to jump, and swivel her head around to find out who it was.

"Kerry, I'm sorry to startle you," Jeanie apologised as she pulled out the seat opposite from her with Carlos sitting on her lap.

"It's about time someone began paying me back for all the times I've startled them." Kerry always found it easy to joke with Jeanie.

"Mark told me you were over here. He also told me about that." Jeanie indicated at the white gauze with her dark brown eyes, concern flooding them, as she handed Carlos his key rattle and he began shaking the toy with delight, distracting them both.

"It's nothing."

"You can't fool me, Kerry Weaver. I know you too well."

"That's what I was afraid of," Kerry answered, hoping that Jeanie wasn't able to discern the truth of what had caused her injury. "That's enough about this," she said pointing to the gauze. "What brings you here?"

"Carlos had an appointment at the HIV clinic."

"Is everything all right?" Kerry picked up his key rattle from the table and shook it in front of his waving hands. He gurgled and giggled, his eyes dancing with delight.

"Yes, I think so. They just took some blood tests. I'll get the results tomorrow. He's been healthy with no colds, so his count should be fine."

"He looks very happy and so do you. Marriage and motherhood suits you."

"I would never have believed I could be so happy." Jeanie fell silent, watching her friend play with her foster child. She hesitated, before she spoke. "Kerry, should you really be at work today? You are still hurt from your fall - I can tell."

Kerry gave her a wry smile. "Jeanie, I could have stayed home today, but when I came backt o work there'd be so much more paperwork to do."

"Haleh told me you have worked on a couple of traumas this morning as well as seeing patients. I don't call that taking it easy."

"Were you checking up on me?" Kerry's hand with the rattle stilled. She was disconcerted that she was the topic of conversation in the ER.

"Kerry, they are your co-workers. They are concerned about you." Jeanie placated Kerry. "Have you taken a look at yourself in the mirror this morning?"

"I avoided it as much as possible."

"Kerry, you may be able to convince everyone else that you are not hurting, but you can't with me. Go home. Take the paperwork with you. At least that way you won't have the added burden of having to participate in trauma cases."

"I'll think about it."

Jeanie knew better than to push Kerry any further. It would only result in her becoming adamant that she needed to stay and prove her mettle. "Are you having lunch?"

"Yeah. I placed my order when I walked in. Soup and coffee. I don't know what's taking so long."

"We'll join you. If you take Carlos, I'll just go and check on your soup and place our order."

Kerry put out her hands for the youngster and took him, standing him up on her knees as he pushed up and down with his all his strength in his wobbly, chubby legs.

*****************
ER DEPARTMENT
*****************

Kerry shivered as she went back into the ER, the warmth of the department enveloping her before being quickly dispelled as she noticed the man standing at the admit desk. Her heart went cold and her anger flared that he had invaded her work place.

"Dr. Weaver's just walked in," Randi informed him with a snap of her gum and watched with interest.

Jack Daniels turned around to face Kerry. He was out of uniform, dressed casually in a pair of trousers and thick woollen sweater, which accentuated his broad shoulders. He had a brown bomber jacket slung over his right arm.

The sheer shock of seeing him here, where she had pointedly avoided any mention of her attack, held Kerry frozen, unable to move or say anything.

"Dr. Weaver, I came to see you about that personal problem *I* have. Can you spare a few moments?" Jack tried to make his reasons for seeing Kerry sound as if it was a medical rather than a police matter.

His words broke through Kerry's immobility, and she gave a quick nod. "Randi, any exam rooms free?"

"The isolation room is free. Everything else is full."

"Follow me."

"Should I put his name on the board, Dr. Weaver?" Randi asked slyly. She had noticed the look passing between the two of them and suspected it wasn't really a medical case after all. Curiosity was getting the better of her, and she missed Jerry being around. They would have had a great time this morning, coming up with explanations for Dr. Weaver's injuries. He wouldn't have been satisfied with her explanation at all.

"No. It won't take much more than five minutes."

"Take all the time you need, Dr. Weaver." Randi added with a grin, turning away and missing the glare Kerry aimed at her.

Kerry led the way down the hall to the isolation room, her crutch hitting the floor in sharp, vicious, uneven strokes. After Jack entered the room, Kerry slammed the door and turned on the burly officer. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I would have contacted you at home except your telephone number has been changed," he answered evenly.

"I was going to let you know. I just haven't had a chance. I've been busy, if you hadn't noticed from the amount of patients waiting." Kerry flung her arm up, accentuating her point.

"Why did you change the number?"

"Because he knows it and I'm not about to have him calling me whenever he likes." Kerry paced away from Jack, avoiding looking directly at him. He had seen her vulnerable already, and she wasn't about to let him witness it twice.

"We could have put a phone tap on it," he commented logically. "At least, it might have given us a chance to trace him."

"I didn't think about that. I just wanted to stop him from calling me." Kerry stopped by the gurney and plucked away a small bit of fluff from the sheets.

Jack stopped for a moment and thought. "You never mentioned that he had called you before. Has he called you since the attack?"

Kerry turned to face him. "He had my number and he used it. I didn't actually speak to him. He left a message on my answering machine. I brought the tape in to work because I was going to stop off at your office on the way home and let you know. I'll get it for you."

"Dr. Weaver..... Kerry. I would like you to come down to the station to give a full report on this call. I'd also like to see if you could give a description to the sketch artist of this character."

Kerry felt bone weary. His request seemed to sap the last remaining energy out of her body. Her hand was on the door handle to leave. She turned back to face him. "I'll just make arrangements to finish for the day and come down to the station. Look, I haven't told anyone at work about this, so please don't mention it."

Jack nodded. It wasn't an unusual request. People had their right to privacy and if that's what she was choosing to do, who was he to argue. He followed her back to the admit desk.

"Randi, where's Dr. Greene?"

"In the lounge."

Kerry proceeded to the lounge, telling Jack to wait in chairs with the other patients. "Mark. I'm afraid I'm going to have to finish for the day. Do you think you will be able to cover my shift?"

"Kerry, go on home. You look terrible." Mark commented around his tuna salad., pieces falling from his fork back into the plastic container. "I think you are scaring most of the patients away anyway."

"Thanks, Mark. You really know how to make someone feel good," Kerry responded sarcastically. She might not feel good or look too healthy, but sometimes she didn't need to hear the confirmation from all her colleagues.

"Kerry, I didn't mean it in that way. Oh, hell...."

"Mark, I'm joking. I know I look like the living dead. I'm going to go home and wallow in a bit of self-pity. Thanks for taking over." Kerry slipped out of her lab coat and into her warm woollen coat. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, she left the lounge without a backward glance.

"Where are you parked?" Jack asked.

"In the hospital parking lot."

"I'll walk you."

Kerry didn't even bother to argue with him.

Randi's eyebrows raised a couple of notches as she watched the couple leave the ER department. This was something new and interesting - the grapevine was going to be heavy with ripe gossip for the next few days.

End Part 7/14