"You wouldn’t mind."

"I didn’t come to stay."

"Sure you did," Kim cheerfully contradicted her.

"Beg pardon?"

"You didn’t come here to drop off a bottle of liquor for me and then leave. If you’d wanted to leave, you wouldn’t have come in the first place."

"Fairly presumptuous of you, Dr. Legaspi."

"Dr. Legaspi got left at the hospital," Kim muttered darkly.

Sensing the dangerous shift in Kim’s mood, Abby reached out and wrapped her fingers around Kim’s. Despite the humid warmth of the house, Kim’s hand was frighteningly cool. She’d not seen Kim aside from a few quick glances for the rest of the afternoon. "How bad did it get?"

"Not as bad as it’s going to, I’m afraid."

"Carter?"

"Not just him. People are taking sides."

"And?"

"And none of those sides are mine." She sighed wearily and took a long, deep swallow of her drink. "Not that I expected anything else."

"You may have more supporters than you know."

"Yeah, like who?"

"Like me," she said quietly.

In response, Kim slipped a long arm around Abby’s shoulders and pulled her close. "I don’t want to be a bad thing for you," she murmured, brushing a gentle kiss over the nurse’s temple.

"You aren’t." Abby nestled close in the sheltering strength of this remarkable woman’s body, wanting more than anything to absorb some of the courage she had found there. Almost of its own volition, her hand slipped beneath the wrinkled linen of Kim’s shirt, coming to rest on her lover’s heart. "And Kerry."

Kim stirred slightly. "What about Kerry?"

"I think she’s in your corner too."

The psychiatrist harumphed softly. "I’ve hurt Kerry too much for too far long for her to be in my corner. That’s a graciousness I don’t deserve from her. Let alone expect."

"Nonetheless, I think you might have it."

"What makes you say that?"

"I tried to stay out of her way after the whole drug lock-up thing. Salt in wounds, you know? But we accidentally ran into each other in the lounge right at the end of my shift."

"Oh my."

"She told me to take care of you, Kim," Abby confessed, not at all sure she wanted to be saying the things she was saying right now, but unable to lie about something so dear to Kim. "As much as you’d let me. As much as I could."

The shudder that wracked Kim’s body was deep and painful; and Abby clung to her, offering whatever shelter from the storm of emotions ripping through her lover that her small length was able. A long silence drifted over the women– awash in memory, awareness, and regret and yet, somehow, still, unrepentant.

Distant moments more, and Kim finally whispered, "I’m not asking that of you."

"I know." Moonlight filtered their gaze, shadows flickering in both their eyes as their bodies fit together in spite of everything they knew was going to unfold. Lips met, telling truths more deceptive and painful than either was willing to admit. Kim’s hands tangled in Abby’s hair as small fingers fumbled with buttons and belts, stripping the cloth away to meet slick skin with hungry mouths. A warning pause, and Abby searched the darkness for Kim’s eyes. "I’m offering."

FINIS