Lemonade A Kerry Weaver fanfic by Cimerene.  The song is Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden. This fic is in response to the ERffCC challenge.  This is a one shot story, to my knowledge there will be NO follow up stories to this~  All characters belong to the E.R. executive suit type people.  I cheerfully admit that I'm borrowing these characters and I will replace them unbroken when I'm through playing with them.     Thanx Jim for editing, any additional error's can be solely attributed to the writer, (who didn't flunk English but should have!) :) ------------- Lemon Tree I'm sitting here in a boring room It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon I'm wasting my time I got nothing to do I'm hanging around I'm waiting for you But nothing ever happens - and I wonder ~^~^~^~^~^~^ Kerry struggled to open the car door; a quick summer rain had sprung up.  She tried juggling her umbrella with her purse and failed miserably.  She glared at the umbrella, fine time for it to quit. For some reason she could never get one to last more than a week, they seemed to die as fast as the flowers she had once tried to raise on her windowsill.  Umbrellas and flowers, neither one lived around her.  She decided against the mad dash for her front door, after all, soaked was soaked.  After entering her small home she leaned the now unusable umbrella against the door.  She decided as she did every time she used a new umbrella, that she should get stock in the company, after all, with the amount she went through, it might be a profitable investment.  Then, of course, there was that old adage about being your own best customer.  After changing into comfortable sweats, she placed everything from her stockings to her coat in the washing machine.  She roamed through the house, wandering from room to room.  Everything seemed off to her today.  Maybe it was the fact that for once she didn't have a stack of paperwork to do.  Amend that, she had plenty of work to do from County, but nothing she felt inclined to do at the moment.  She glanced out the window at a brief flash of lightning.  Fascinated, she peered out, trying to see something other than more raindrops.  She was rewarded minutes later by another thrilling jagged bolt.  She loved watching thunderstorms.  She laughed at her whimsies, imagine, sitting on your couch doing nothing but watching for lightening bolts.  Finally leaving her living room window, she contemplated her choices she for dinner.  Not much, she thought, glaring at her refrigerator.  All fridges should come with automatic refilling devices, she muttered, as yet again she added butter to her shopping list.  She watched as the list fluttered to the floor, gently drifting under the refrigerator.  Yet another list she wasn't going to stoop down and retrieve.  For the millionth time since John moved out, Kerry wished he were there.  If for no other reason than to retrieve a piece of paper for her.  She laughed at her whimsy.  Her thoughts were as chaotic and as different as the jagged lightning bolts that still illuminated the sky outside.  Shaking her head suddenly, she slammed the fridge and watched as it jiggled the canister of change that sat on top.  Deciding against making a real dinner, she grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge that she had started last week.  She sat on the couch watching the jagged bolts of lightning, eating stale Doritos, sipping her wine, and musing.  ~^~^~^~^~^~^ I'm driving around in my car I'm driving too fast I'm driving too far I'd like to change my point of view I feel so lonely I'm waiting for you But nothing ever happens - and I wonder ~^~^~^~^~^~^ 2 hours later. ~^~^~^~^~^~^ Kerry had finally decided that stale Doritos were just not going to cut it for dinner.  She put on her by now dry coat; grateful that the rain was lessening.  However fun the lightening shows were she was always pleased when they stopped.  Grabbing her purse and ignoring the umbrella she had neglected to throw away, she left for the grocery store. Singing along to the music Kerry wondered why she was so often alone.  Looking at the lives of her co-workers, sometimes it seemed that everyone had someone.  She remembered brief moments in time when there was someone there; Ellis, Mlungsi, other men just as wonderful, but each love had lasted such a short period of time.  As she navigated the parking lot at the grocery store, she wondered why she seemed unable to have a long-term relationship.  She decided, as she looked up at a nearby rainbow, that mabey she just hadn't met the right person yet. She parked her car glancing around at the nearly empty parking lot.  3 cars.  In the middle of the week this place was usually packed, but being late on a Sunday evening, and rainy to boot, must be affecting more than her moods, she mused to herself.  It was also affecting the shopping habits of her fellow chicago-eans.  She entered the store and grabbed the nearest pushcart, suddenly irritated.  Why was it that every cart you find at the grocery store veers to the left and has squeaky wheels?  Entering the store, she searched lazily for interesting items.  She tried in vain to remember what was on the multitude of shopping list's that were piling up on the floor under her fridge. She glanced from the disinterested checker to the boring shelves in front of her.  She methodically went down the canned food aisle, once again wondering what she should stock up on.  She glanced from the pork'n'beans to the canned rutabagas.  She glared at the can.  Who in their right mind eats Rutabaga's, she muttered to herself, much less canned ones?  ~^~^~^~^~^~^ I wonder how I wonder why  Yesterday you told me 'bout the blue blue sky  And all that I can see Is just a yellow lemon tree I'm turning my head up and down  I'm turning turning turning turning around And all that I can see is just another lemon tree ~^~^~^~^~^~^ She wandered from the canned goods to the look at the rows of olives.  Some idiot had thoughtlessly placed the green ones just out of reach.  She stared at them in frustration, olives would have been so good with a glass of wine tonight.  She contemplated using her crutch to scoot them close enough for her to grab, but then wondered how she was going to explain the mess when they dropped to the floor. Were they worth trying to reach?  Deciding they were she leaned heavily on her crutch then stretched her hand, only to watch a tanned arm, with long shapely fingers reach for them.  Momentarily irritated at the ease in which this person was able to reach the jar of olives, she looked up to see…. Dark mysterious eyes, long dark hair with just a touch of grey in the temples, shapely lips and pearl white teeth. "This the one you want?" "The tall jar!" For some reason, Kerry's day started looking up.  She watched as he effortlessly picked them off the shelf for her.  When he handed them to her, his fingers gently brushed hers. "Must be nice to be so tall." She smiled up at him, at ease with him for the first time in ages.  "So do you shop here often?" he asked her.  Kerry looked at him in shock, then laughed helplessly.  "I am funny?"  He smiled slightly at her.  "No, never mind." She picked up on his frustration, but there was no way she was going to tell him that his innocent words were in fact a famous pickup line.  "I live right around the corner from here."  She glanced into his basket, smiled slightly at the bachelor type choices that were present.  "Don't tell me that donuts and beer is your dinner of choice?" She asked him. He looked into her cart, curiosity at war with politeness.  "Looks like you eat healthier than I do."  He indicated her cart full of healthy vegetables.  "No plans for this evening?" He asked her.  Watching her withdraw, he became aware of how his comments had seemed to her.  He felt like he had put the proverbial foot in his mouth. "Not really," Kerry subconsciously played with the handle of her cane.  "What about yourself?"  She shot the question back at him. She had no intentions of discussing her current lonely state. He smiled slightly, "I am used to being by myself.  It is not so bad.."  He clearly had no idea how lonely this statement made him seem.  His loneliness was the kind that only someone who withstood it daily would understand.  "I take it you haven't eaten dinner either?" She asked him quickly, attempting to put him at ease.  His words unnerved her more than she could express.  She watched as he unconsciously shook his head at her question.  "No, I just got off," The idea of going home and eating another meal of leftovers or donuts was rapidly becoming very unappealing to him at the moment. "Did you enjoy your day off?" he asked her suddenly, remembering that he hadn't seen her at work.  He tried to focus on her and not his own lonely state of mind. "Yeah it was quiet." Kerry told him, then waited, not at that moment what to do or say.  She wondered if she should just leave, or try to talk to him more.  Come on girl, think of something to say…. Think, think, think! "Would you like to come over for dinner? I could make us something to eat," Kerry found herself asking him. "Donuts for desert?" He teasingly answered her, smiling down at the diminutive red head. It might be nice to eat dinner somewhere other than at home, with conversation that made sense for a change.  The fact that Kerry was a beautiful woman might just add a little extra spice to the cooking. "You have to help with the dishes, though," Kerry found herself telling him as they walked towards the checkout stand. "Kerry,' Luka paused, his accent thicker than normal.  She noticed how her name seemed to roll easily off of his handsome lips.  "I think I can do that."  Standing at the checkout counter, Kerry remembered a short line from the song she was singing as she drove up.  ~And all that I can see is just another lemon tree~  Maybe her life wasn't made up of as many lemon trees as she thought.  It could just be she considered hastily, as they paid for their groceries, and headed out of the store, she just needed to learn how to make more lemonade.