******

"I’ll give you twenty bucks if you go in there."

"And get my nuts chopped off? I don’t think so."

"Oh come on, it’s not like you’re using them."

"You wish. You’re so anxious– you go in there."

"Yeah, like that wouldn’t be oh… I don’t know… obvious much?"

"What’d I miss?"

"Wait… Wait… Legaspi’s leaving… Damn…"

"Looks like all her buttons are properly affixed."

"Damn."

"You already said that."

"I was making a point."

"Did you really think they were going to get it on in the lounge?"

"The drug lock-up seemed to suit them."

"That was one time."

"Which makes you wonder about all the other times…"

"In what kind of all-porno-all-the-time world do you live?"

"Wanna come visit?"

Kerry grimaced as she overheard the last exchange, regretting her decision to approach the knitted heads from their blind spot rather than head on. It was said that you could kill a cow by striking it directly between the eyes, and she wondered if this were to be the case with the bovine gossip at the admit desk, gnawing on shreds of interaction between herself, Kim, Abby, Luka and Carter. As quietly as possible, she slipped the last of her charts into the rack and eased out of the perimeter of conversation, not wanting to hear anything more, but still cursed to as one last bray sounded:

"Oh be honest– tell me one man or woman who wouldn’t do Legaspi in a New York minute?"

"Carter?"

"Don’t be so sure."

Sure indeed, Kerry mused to herself, stepping outside the overly air-conditioned zone of the ER and into the humid July warmth. Strolling out to the quietly deserted basketball half-court, she was surprised to see Kim sitting silently in the shadows. "Long shift?" she asked.

Blue eyes, only slightly darkened by her assailant’s blow, turned to her and smiled softly. "No more so than they all seem these days."

"True enough," Kerry granted. "Mind if I join you?"

"Please." Kim slid over on the short concrete bench to make way for Kerry’s smaller form. Despite the disparity in their sizes, the bench was barely big enough for the both of them– and instantly, Kerry became away of the heat beneath the thin summer slacks Kim wore. "Just glad it’s over," she continued, as if oblivious to the closeness of their confines.

"You and me both."

"You finished for the night?"

"In ten minutes."

"Me too."

An excruciating silence, filled with the memory of not too many months ago when they would have discreetly repaired to one or the other of their homes and spent the intervening hours between this shift and the next exploring the length of each other’s bodies. When they would have been caught in the thrall of shortened breath and clenched muscles. Of quiet entreaties and louder pleas.

Their heads turned at the same time.

"Kim…"

"I know it’s late, but…"

"Would you like to go get a drink or something?"